by David Chorlton
A shock of silence passes across the Earth.
News reporters struggle to translate it.
Dictators stand nervously at their windows.
A fine snow fills television screens.
Rebels have halted their advances.
Diplomats sit up all night beside their telephones.
Arms shipments are held up at the border.
The moon is a red light in the sky.
Negotiators wait to speak
with cocked hammers for tongues.
David Chorlton has lived in Arizona since 1978, when he moved from Vienna, Austria. While much of his poetry is about the Southwestern landscape, his newest publication, and first work of fiction, is The Taste of Fog from Rain Mountain Press, reflecting a darker side of Vienna.
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