June 11, 2014
what roof will
cover the end when blood orange is eleven
years one month
& ten days after “Mission Accomplished.”
balaclavas wrap
the bulletproof Humvee in evening ink.
bone script,
prisoner flood, ghosts up to the knees & the flight
of all men
charged to protect the city, uniforms shed like skin.
another beginning
begs long off under shingles, a light
in the upper
window. blink slow cartography, clear the map:
blackened
Tigris, mountain ash, neighbours
turn to the tumult
of ocean. the future has been levelled—
stillness paid
in boxes, oriel windows & hospital deconstruction.
what will be
worth fighting over. children rebuilt then again erased.
mannequins in
the alley clothed in our garments. leaning
minaret splayed
before dawn after eight centuries unobstructed
views of the
river. present company a collection of life
less bodies.
this is a version & yet also a lattice.
Geoffrey Nilson is a writer, editor and multimedia
artist living in New Westminster on the unceded territory of the Qayqayt and
Musqueam First Nations. His poems and essays have appeared in Poetry is Dead, The Capilano Review, subTerrain,
CV2, and other journals. He is the
author of four chapbooks and the most recent, In my ear continuously like a stream, appeared recently from above/ground
press. Find more on his website at www.vcovcfvca.com.
the Tuesday
poem is curated by rob mclennan
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