Toy Soldiers

My grandson plays with plastic soldiers on the floor,
the roadside bombs are lollipops
stuck to grandma’s carpet.

The streets of Baghdad come into the living room,
the Green Zone is astroturfed in the backyard,
the family dog becomes notorious

for being,in God’s eye,vainglorious.
He wags his tail at Eve
and Eve wags her tail at him.

The war is going on and on and on
like Vietnam and Vietnam and Vietnam.
My grandson gets up,

goes into the toy room for more of his favorite toys.
Fourteen Ohio National Guardsmen
dead in that playful instant.