Obemata

a. sketches of homeland

prologue: they snatched the box   

              stole the ballot

              ballot-snatchers

     then:  they moved into high places

              strange inhabitants

              strangers to earth

    now:   the ballot has become the cup

              that passes between our mouths

              sorrow lingers in the throat

epilogue: while we are still mere onlookers

              go home to your wives

              ballot-riggers

b. longing

what do I want

when the lamp

glowing in our hearts

drags to itself the shadows of night?

to gather your breast in my mouth

night wears the bra

gathered pressed down

down into my mouth

what do I want

when the light turns off?

to make my mouth

as rotund as your nipple 

c. war room

now again he sits at the table

in the war room

in sync

with the stars and stripes

when you look briefly at a thing

hardly would you recall its look long after

so I spy the room

my eyes take in two tables

table one: weapon of mass destruction

table two: body bags

this is no moment for brief glances

he sits at the table now and again

counting white crosses

naming the dead

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