Tuesday, April 05, 2011

OBSERVATIONS

by David Chorlton


The humanitarian bombing has begun.
The peaceful use of nuclear technology
            has resulted in the evacuation
            of two hundred thousand
            people from their homes
while the Forest Service approves permits
            to drill for uranium around the Grand Canyon.
Arizona’s legislature wants a state firearm
            as a reminder of how the West was won
while at opening day for baseball
            the pre-game flyover frightens the opposition
            more than the home team.
The price of an education is rising in proportion
            with the cost of not having one
and the man executed this week
            didn’t have one
            although it would have cost less
            than the million dollar cost of an execution,
but it’s spring
            with the acacia in bloom, all the better
            for those who walk the streets
            until one day they disappear.
Speech has become so free radio call-in shows
            hire scripted callers to ensure
            their argument won’t be argued with
when they say we’ll have accidents drilling
            and clean up the mess
            as easily as breathing life into the dead.
But democracy won’t be held back,
            the humanitarian bombing has begun.


David Chorlton looks forward to the warm months in Arizona and enjoys the bite of the heat when it comes. He lives and writes in Phoenix, increasingly with the sensation that his poems are distractions, but they huddle together into manuscripts, for instance From the Age of Miracles, which won the Slipstream chapbook contest in 2009.
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