by David Radavich
They amass at the border
as giant snakes and roaches,
men and their killing
machines, poised
to overrun the resistant
creatures of democracy.
Every weapon developed
by man is turned toward
usurpation and control,
as if that could solve
anyone’s need,
historic or personal.
Imagine the soldiers
in their invented cause
testing the firing pins,
adjusting the angles, feeding
the first ammunition.
Imagine the potential
victims, defiant, sure
of their innocence,
not wanting to be yoked
like pliant oxen
at the master's gate
Imagine when the war
happens, its final destruction,
random death, a quagmire
of duty and egos in mud
doing battle like scorpions.
We wait with mental
swords drawn to cut what?—
air with our hopes
and expectations that cross
before us against the sun.
Among David Radavich's poetry collections are two epics, America Bound and America Abroad, as well as Middle-East Mezze and The Countries We Live In. His latest book is Unter der Sonne / Under the Sun: German and English Poems from Deutscher Lyrik Verlag (2022).