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DYBBUK
The evening slowly entersWarsaw — along Aleje Solidarnoscia lumbering truck backfires — some old onescringe — thoughts collapsing — into rail cars — lighteningbolts on stiff black wool uniforms — polished jackboots —a wrought iron gate — Arbeit Macht Frei The evening slowly entersWarsaw along Aleje Solidarnoscia truck backfires a sudden flockof sierpowka Eurasian Collared…
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DRINKING TEA IN KABUL*
Rockets flash brieflyacross the chilled sky,plumes of smoke, ashcarried offby impending winter. Over the lintel of the entryto the Inter-Continental Hotel Chicago,carved deeply into the marbleEs Salamu Aleikumstaring implacablythrough ponderousbrass framed doorsonto the Miracle Mile.Countless guestspass below itunseeing. My son and Isit across a small tablespilling bits of tapasonto the cloth,laughing lightlyat the young boybathed…
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A FOOL’S ERRAND
Looking back, it is easy to see nowwhat was difficult then, notlooking like complete fools,we all did, but knowing that we looked like fools and wouldfor the foreseeable future,those of us lucky enoughto survive and actually have one. We knew they wanted to break us down, rebuild usin the desired format, alwaysbending to unit cohesion,following orders thoughtlessly,never…
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DUST AND ASHES
Between Scylla and Charybdisthey cower amidst the ruinsfearful to look skywardlest they encouragethe rains of hell. Now and then they visitthe corpses, hastily buriedgrief drowned by the soundof the laugh of the gunnerpeering down from the hills.It is always night for the souland lookout must be keptfor Charon, who ridessilently along the rivers of blood,that…
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WAR
I have yet to wander the medieval battlefieldsof Europe and it increasingly seems I never will.I have visited my share of castles in Ireland and Scotland,but the acoustics there are not good, and I did nothear the anguished cry of soldiers falling in battle, I have seen rivers, quiet now, where the bloodof the vanquished…
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WE WERE SPECIAL
We were a special generation,that’s what they told us, and althoughwe had no real idea who they were,we drank the Kool-Aid and believed them. We got liberal educations, weresmarter than our parents,and went off to the wars that theystarted for us, did enough drugsto numb the pain of our existence,and became first class working drones.…
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MAY DAY
We marched for hours, goingnowhere really, but nowhere wasthe point of the marching so weachieved the goal the Air Force set.We didn’t even think it oddthat they made us shave our heads,so we’d all look like fools,there was a war on and wewere in the military, so wehad already proven that point.We were the smarter…
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JE SAIS QUOI
I admit I am an odd duck, odder for not being a duck at all. But the expression has a certain je ne sais quoi to it, as does that expression and I am all about language. All that is a long round about way of acknowledging that I have always wanted to use the…
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BATTLESHIP
As a child I played Battleshipon a square grid, the ships markedby hand, one for each of the players,we were efficient by necessity. My sons played Battleship, thoughunder a different name in deferenceto my hatred of things martial,on an electrically wired board. My grandchildren haven’t yetdiscovered the game, now playedon their iPads and iPhones, but…
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SENSELESS
You place the shroudover my head,it is dark, but Ican still touch her cheek. You cut offmy fingers, leavingonly stumps, but Ican still taste her tears. You pull outmy tongue, there isonly bitterness, but Ican hear her morning laugh. You drown mein a sea of noisenothing breaks the din, but Ismell her sweetness. You fill…
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an old writer and his words 