BY TRACY MAY FUAD
i. “Everything I’ve collected is gone.”
-Saddam Hussein
The canisters weren’t filled with gas
but polaroids and when they burst
on dirt roads and green fields and
mud homes the children ran out
with nets to catch the photos –
ii. “I have made my evaluation of the demon.”
-Saddam Hussein
Or the gas smelled like apples
and slunk to the earth, more dense
than air, and where it touched
the grass the grass grew greener –
iii. “The foundation cracked
under the weight of its walls
when the heavens burst forth.”
-Saddam Hussein
Or the families napped together
in the ditches because the sun
had stayed up all night with them,
dancing halparke to celebrate
the new year –