Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Men and the Seasons

It is a cold winter and men

are bringing bombs on planes again

to demonstrate that explosions

are not seasonal.


I don’t know to what events women

bring bombs, although I’ve read

in the Times that they do

and in all kinds of weather.


Maybe the sacrifice of life consumed

by concussions and fires are meant to change

drought into rain. I’ve read about that too,

what men do to ask the gods for favors:


Virgins thrown into volcanoes,

men thrown off temples,

sliced necks and bloody grass skirts --

death as a tool to incite change.


It is unfortunate we keep forgetting,

the seasons change naturally, bombs

and gods do not control the weather. It seems

we are stuck in the four season cycle of violence.