Uncover the bones
On the Trail of Tears
Mountain Meadow
Auschwitz
Columbine
Crusade for gems in baby’s guts
Collect gold teeth and scalps
Ignore the collateral damage
And the faces on the milk cartons
You don’t think yourself
Capable
Culpable?
See the swirling kettle of hawks
Perform a breathtaking ballet
Mesmerizing
Majestic
Drawing out that part of us
That soars
They seek the unsuspecting prey
Ready to swoop
Talons poised
To feed their babies with death
Leaving bones
On the Trail of Tears
Mountain Meadow
Auschwitz
Columbine
I was capable
Culpable
Doing angles and dangles
On a ballistic missile submarine
Waiting for the command
To do my part
At mass murder
Driving my Enola Gay to win the Cold War
With the promise of global annihilation
As the hawks circle
This Trail of Tears
We call Earth
Richard M. O’Donnell’s works have appeared in many venues. His on-line publications and YouTube films can be accessed at his homepage www.wormsview.com.
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5 Responses to “KETTLE OF HAWKS • by Richard M. O’Donnell”
Comments
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August 6th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Forceful self-scrutiny and regret in this very well-written poem. I often hear that the “Trail of Tears” is happening right now, not then, and the others never actually happened. Re: Enola Gay – Bombs are hot wars, not cold and some say that never happened either. Nothing can be trusted except eye-witnessing, and damned be bearing false witness.
A possibly very important poem in every way including aesthetic.
August 6th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
RAW twisted word for WAR.
We never seem to learn, and just go on repeating our “might is right” mistakes. Powerful nihilistic, insightful poem. I’m truly glad you wrote this. Thank you.
August 7th, 2010 at 1:23 am
Superb; evocative.
August 7th, 2010 at 6:40 am
John Brooke – by calling the poem “nihilistic” aren’t you accusing the voice of the poem of the very thing the voice laments? Or is it obedience to orders of which one disapproves which is nihilistic? Isn’t the problem how to juggle obedience with self-decision? But probing that is not nihilistic.
August 8th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
With change of the tense from past to present in the first line of the last stanza, I would have considered the poem as an excellent portrayal of the contemporary degenerated, moribund mindset of mankind, totally subjugated to selfishness and personal achievement.
And a word on Roberta’s comment – nothing can be trusted except eye witnessing. Can even eye witness be trusted? If so, every magician could prosper far better. The truth is that nothing logically inconsistent can be trusted.