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| “Russian aviation launched the for the second day in a row raids on the city of Raqqa, where nine raids carried out by his aircraft centered on the markets and the revival of the city resulted in 43 civilian martyrs and nearly 60 wounded. . . . It is feared in the coming days that the Russian aviation will take over the mission of bombing Raqqa city . . . while the international coalition and the world are standing silent in front of this criminality on the grounds that the Russians bombard ISIS [although we] know that Raqqa is occupied by ISIS and not [giving support] to it.” —Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, March 19, 2016 |
Handsome and indifferent
as a movie star, the pilot
drops his payload.
He killed it
tonight, had the audience
eating out of his hand,
from grandmothers tottering
on skinny legs to the family
barely breathing in the cellar.
Never have children
been so still, so
perfectly behaved.
One performance leads
to another – the pilot
will be back tomorrow night,
10:00 p.m. on the dot,
ready to put on one more
drop-dead gorgeous show.
Erica Goss served as Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, CA from 2013-2016. She is the author of Wild Place (Finishing Line Press 2012) and Vibrant Words: Ideas and Inspirations for Poets (PushPen Press 2014). Erica teaches poetry workshops and works as a Development Director for California Poets in the Schools. Her poems, reviews and articles appear widely.