Saturday, October 22, 2011

WAR (CASUALTIES OF)

by Alan Catlin


The desert is a  dream
with soldiers in it,
warriors stripped down
to their shorts and boots
as each layer of sand
becomes a cloud of dust
blown by invisible wings
from above.  In black,
tortured sky, smart bombs
are flying, choppers are
dissolving, liquid metal
falls from tentative
frames like the skin of
troopers hurtling to
the ground; a phantom
noise follows them as
they go, weightless as birds
who have lost their wings.


Alan Catlin has published numerous chapbooks and full length books of poetry and prose. Pygmy Forest Press is publishing the collected "Deep Water Horizon" poems.
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