#66, October 5, 2005

Traversing Clio

Iraq Un-poem

A poem

called “Iraq,

No Phobia”

must be written—

if not by me,

then by you.

It should contain

no rhyme

or reason;

it should contain

no sense

of season.

It should be a depiction

of an unaltered landscape,

onto which we throw

the full weight

of our enterprise

with a purpose

so ill-defined

that the contours

of the terrain

remain as unclear

and indistinct

as before we lifted our pen.

It should contain spiders,

spinning webs of deceit

that confuse

and misdirect,

to play on our greatest fears,

and to explain

the poem’s title.

It should also represent the modern poem –

graphically depicting

the social landscape,

but in the face of so much death

and destruction

really not capable

of doing justice

to the sheer enormity

and catastrophe

of it all.

And you should write it,

because I am damned

if I can.

But then you would be too.