Manhattan

having shot children
we return to too many faces
shuffling sundown drenched streets
brown black or pale
sweating
some seem accusatory

but soon under towers’ shadows
we see we’re still okay
cause of the few
out on Hudson’s water
not a one
is walking on it

 

American Weddings

why do american weddings almost never get bombed?

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because after an early morning knot tying
americans eat celebratory bowls
of Multi-Grain Cheerios™
instead of shooting AK-47s into the air

sure
that
and they don’t get married in afghanistan

 

Shoot At Me

fear is watching tracers stitch
between your sniper partner’s legs
when at dusk his desert BDUs
sprint the dusty road
that winds the valley
up to Sper Kunday

love is hoping the Talib gunner
will notice your humvee
will decide your truck
-a lumbering behemoth of a target
compared to a single sprinting man-
is in need of stitching

Poems copyrighted by Ryan Stovall, used with permission.

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