American Cycle

POETRY FORMAT, 13 Nov 2017

José M. Tirado – TRANSCEND Media Service

Altruists at heart,
We forgive everything,
Including the latest remix of terror,
Lugubriously fattened at the end
With “thoughts and prayers”
Sent reflexively with knitted brows
And pearl clutching astonishment;
Our uniquely “American” experiment
In thoughtful discourse.

If anything could be done, it certainly wasn´t considered,
But this we have long resigned ourselves to
For want of any reasoned speculation.

Some of the dead were pregnant, some children this time, all
Gathered in Sunday best for their best selves to emerge later,
Hugging neighbors, shaking hands in peace on their ways home,
Now removed from their red-splattered clapboard horror,
Now as statistics on a graph
We will not look at
With any honesty.
The fruition of years of feckless debates.

The other great terror of our times
Is this:
Cowardice is tenured,
Allowing the regular sacrifices of sons and daughters
Without even a disembodied voice from afar promising
An angel to stop it.

It´s all ours now.
_________________________________________

José M. Tirado is a Puertorican poet, Buddhist priest, and political writer living in Hafnarfjorður, Iceland, known for its elves, “hidden people” and lava fields. His articles and poetry have been featured in CounterPunch, Cyrano´s Journal, The Galway Review, Dissident Voice, La Respuesta, and Op-Ed News, among others. A long-time part of the Engaged Buddhism movement, he has worked as a Chaplain, a union president, and as president of the Latino Writers Group in Hollywood. Head of the Buddhist Meditation Society of Iceland, he now teaches meditation at the University of Iceland where he is working on a PhD in education. He can be reached at tirado.jm@gmail.com.

 

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 13 Nov 2017.

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