It’s always about oil, no matter how
we market it. We hurl our young and brave
into Belgrade, Kabul, Baghdad, and now
leer at Tehran. We lie. Boast how we save
lives by killing, brandishing the gold cross
of democracy. But this will fall soon
to civil wars at home as we sense loss
of water. Little Rock’s rolling platoons
will take on Denver’s outside Wichita.
Silent Predators will soar the Great Plains,
bombing sites where they’ve dammed the Arkansas.
Brooklyn boys will die along Lake Champlain.
Atlanta troops will burn Sherman’s old home
in Ohio, claim Hocking River loam.
Roger Armbrust
December 28, 2008
