The Sumerians

"the vicious creature jumped
from monkey to man."
Elvis Costello

The helicopter was shot down
onto the desert,
the lone survivor shot dead

by his captors
as revenge for the Iraqi
killed in the Fallujah mosque.

An eye for an eye,
a tooth for a tooth,
an act of barbarism

for an act of barbarism.
There is absolutely
no difference whatsoever.

The twisted,
unrecognizable burning metal
of the Russian-made helicopter,

the lone survivor,
a Bulgarian pilot,
bullets entering his flesh,

flesh ripped apart,
blood vessels ruptured,
blood flowing on the desert floor,

the eyes wide open,
barely alive,
I’m barely alive,

so this is what it feels like
to be alive and dead.
In between, there is this.