by Indran Amirthanayagam
War. To end all wars. War. To squash, squeeze,
stamp out flea, bug, virus, hate-filled cur. War.
To avenge children, women, men, mowed
down by cars, in homes, gardens, streets.
War. Angels of doom, of death, thousands
of flares splashing the night sky, shot down,
blown up, debris falling aimlessly, thousand
injured, two thousand dead and counting. War.
Invasion. Unprovoked. Stoked. Warships
and aircraft carriers roaring towards the middle
of the Middle East, with sheikhs and princes,
and restless armies, drumming again, to defend,
to protect the right to exist? To live unbombed?
By a temple unbombed? School unbombed?
Agricultural cooperative, unbombed? War.
Peace. Yes bring the 'niks into the chat. Unify
the world before the horror and awe. Get
laws passed that will legalize the extra-
territorial execution. War. Times of War.
Times of throwing civic bones to dogs.
Dogs of war. Howling, yapping dogs
of war. Poor canines we steal for metaphors.
Metaphor. Cadence, Rhyme. Unreason:
War. Temporary Solution:War.
Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is the newest collection of Indran's own poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun. (Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.
