Unmoved II

Myi niece flies American bombers

over Mosul, Rocca and Afghanistan.

She decries the remoteness of

the destruction from her strike

position high above, knowing there

is likely collateral damage in taking

out embedded ISIS fighters.

 

Here in the U.S., we watch television news,

often remaining unmoved when seeing

apocalyptic bombings by Assad's military

forces in Aleppo; we go to bed and sleep

unplumbed by images of whole apartment

blocks falling down amid leaping fllames and

unheard cries, the dust rising silently into

an equally unmoved Syrian sunrise.

 

first published in Time of Singing

also published in Chicago Poetry Press