this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
image and poem below the fold
Local boys stand near Iraqi police during a military offensive in the northern town of Tal Afar September 13, 2005. The Iraqi army said it killed 14 insurgents and captured 35 on Tuesday as troops chased militants down the narrow streets of the rebel northern town of Tal Afar, on the fourth day of a major military assault.
REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen
I am Very Bothered
by Simon Armitage
I am very bothered when I think
of the bad things I have done in my life.
Not least that time in the chemistry lab
when I held a pair of scissors by the blades
and played the handles
in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner;
then called your name, and handed them over.
O the unrivalled stench of branded skin
as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in,
then couldn’t shake off the two burning rings. Marked,
the doctor said, for eternity.
Don’t believe me, please, if I say
that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen,
of asking you if you would marry me.
– – –
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