War
He’s Making a List
A year after American politics slid downhill
on a golden escalator, we were at The Whitney.
Urs Fischer’s “Standing Julian” was
melting. The giant Schnabel candle had lost
its head … Read more
Know/unknow
The thought that God lives in our hearts
and through our bonds with others
is a much … Read more
Dust and Ashes
Where is Abraham
who knew God better than God knew himself
who reminded God
how it would diminish him not to save
the countless guilty
for the sake of argument … Read more
Mural: October 2023
Ever since the world ended
There’s no more black-and-white
-Mose Allison
The candidate with sideburns and cavalier
hair says it’s … Read more
When the Rockets Fall
When my son presses the trigger,
a column of flaming hydrogen
shoots from the launch post,
leads a cubic metre
of evening to daylight for an instant.
I am … Read more
A god so missed a missile
It never turns out well when gods doze
at the universal wheel. I believe in deities
as almost all folks have. From Zeus to Atlas,
all down the hierarchy … Read more
Where the Bombs are Droppin’
Every five minutes, the news is poppin’
around the world. The stories toppin’
the big news channels
are frightening shots and video panels
Of pictures where life is stoppin’,… Read more
Balloons for Ohad
(turning nine in captivity in Gaza – October 23, 2023)
Blue sky, white clouds, yellow sun,
red balloons, hundreds and hundreds of red balloons
on sinuous strings held by the … Read more
Preservation
The images stand between him and the rest of a life
that began again in the long crossing.
On the edge of a pit, he starts snapping heirlooms.
I … Read more
Writing About War
Everyone is Writing About War
About the arbitrariness of it—
the innocents killed or displaced
by angry men,
and make no mistake, these are men,
even the men who … Read more
Accounting
No need to count the dead in Gaza,
their dead are just a number,
a vague number,
if that.
In Ukraine, we know the numbers,
precise, not vague,
in … Read more