For our fallen military – Veterans Day
Fair Sunday morning
port of pearls
a child draped within mother’s arms—
battleship quays strung and fastened
swarms of flies disturb awaken
a sleeping force gathers itself
to swat them away
fighter planes perched tip to tip
flightless, fall easy prey
Arizona, hit by piercing flare
ripped, gutted by stowed magazine
settles to her watery bed
as hundreds float stillborn within
Desperate dancers
search for space between bullets
a twisting, arching ballet
to tympani fortissimo, staccato snare
hot bite of shrapnel in treble screams
between oil and flames
a human log jam crowds the sea
with glass eyes and waxy fingers
wayward toe
torn lip that last kissed mother goodbye
others lie on stretchers
awaiting trial by triage
Uncle Roy’s dreams Billy’s future generations dissolved
suspended by marriage of powder and steel
in frothy, bleeding brine
Hal C Clark's Blog 