A stiff razor-edged blade slices – By Gil Hoy
through pulsating flesh, as
the hot orange sun glistens
on freshly red-tainted steel.
No moans, no cries, no gasps,
as the core of a rational caring
human being falls to the ground
with a sickening thud.
A disgusted Prime Minister,
with rows of soldiers in
neatly pressed uniforms and brass
buttons, condemns an uncivilized
war and the provocative evil
natives who dared to show
the world what a savage brutal
killing entails. The monstrous
revenge of bombs continues to
rein down on villages of the weak,
who have no say over anything,
but find themselves in the firing
zone, their deaths ordered by
faceless masters they do not know,
unconcerned with politics, just
wanting another day’s food and
shelter, while flies rub their legs
together on a decaying woman
and villagers move piles of rubble
from the paths of carts carrying
corpses. A beaming child skips
along the beach in her wildly
carefree exuberance, dexterously
dodging the sea tide of leftover
puddles, not knowing about the
boys coming home in body bags
from ruinous wars that she never
would have wanted, awed by
the rhythmic tidal sounds and
the smell of sea salt. A bagpipe
player in full regalia ruminates
about how the world still wages
war and plays haunting songs in
the sand. A disgraced soldier
receives God’s commendation
for abandoning the flag and
disobeying a command, while a
hungry soulless seagull flies
overhead instinctively looking
for life in the sea’s puddles.
Author Bio:
Gil Hoy is a Boston trial lawyer and is currently studying poetry at Boston University, through its Evergreen program, where he previously received a BA in Philosophy and Political Science. Hoy received an MA in Government from Georgetown University and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. He served as a Brookline, Massachusetts Selectman for four terms. Hoy started writing poetry two years ago. Since then, his work has appeared in Third Wednesday, The Write Room, The Eclectic Muse, Clark Street Review, The New Verse News, Harbinger Asylum, Soul Fountain, The Story Teller Magazine, Eye on Life Magazine, Stepping Stones Magazine, The Penmen Review, To Hold A Moment Still (Harbinger Asylum’s 2014 Holidays Anthology), The Zodiac Review, Earl of Plaid Literary Journal, The Potomac, Antarctica Journal, The Montucky Review and elsewhere.