Mariposa Rhythms -- Creative Dissent

Poem for Lady Beirut
(Mahmoud Badreddine)


Drones, F-16's and laser-guided missiles.
American military business,
just about the only one these days
that isn't fickle

A ceasfire won't help, says Condoleeza
It's not as if your victims are dying while eating a pizza
Or while soaking up the sun in Natanya,
in Tel Aviv or Herzlyya

From our dead they're too detached
a young woman with an old woman's face replete with crevasses
sits at her doorstep with flailing arms wailing
from the piercing sorrow of her son's parting

But Bolton, Bush and Blair keep at the regurgitation
The infamy of a Hezbollah's miscalculation
with nagging repetition that will bring down a dam
Your populace isn't that fucking dumb...damn

More F-16's hover above Lady Beirut, more missiles falling
Business is good at Lockheed Martin
Profit Margins is of the essence
So Condi can promise a 30 million dollar pittance.