{"id":95459,"date":"2017-07-17T12:01:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T11:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=95459"},"modified":"2018-12-20T09:48:59","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T09:48:59","slug":"collateral-damage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/07\/collateral-damage-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Collateral Damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

We were sorry to hear the bombs that were meant
\nto fall on a home adjacent to yours
\n(and one more, down a block or two)
\nhave lamentably ruined your daughter\u2019s wedding,
\nblowing her up in her new white dress,
\nalong with the groom, and his mother and yours,
\nand several children and dogs and cats.<\/p>\n

While every precaution is taken, of course,
\neven our smart bombs occasionally miss;
\nat which time, we sincerely convey
\nour deepest condolences in light of your loss.<\/p>\n

Freedom\u2019s not easy, it\u2019s untidy, it\u2019s
\nsimply better than anything else
\nwe can ever imagine for you.<\/p>\n

As a sign of our continuing interest
\nin your welfare and ours, we present you, tax free,
\nwith this cashier\u2019s check for one hundred dollars.
\n(This is a humanitarian gesture only
\nand should not be construed as an admission
\nof guilt or responsibility.)
\nIf you wish to acknowledge our kindness,
\nwe will send embedded reporters to meet you
\n(try to look grateful and even understanding).<\/p>\n

Further, if your surviving cousins seek work
\namidst the rubble we\u2019ve made of your city,
\nthere are several openings at the police academy
\nthanks to unexpectedly high absenteeism
\n(their loss, your gain) as a result of
\na few lucky potshots from insurgents
\nwho bear an uncanny resemblance
\nto your aforementioned cousins.<\/p>\n

We assure you we are making every effort
\nto restore electricity, water, etc.,
\nmissing since your liberation began.
\nPlease be patient a little longer.
\nWe have only your best interests at heart
\nand are endeavoring daily to impress on you
\nyour need to completely believe this.
\n_________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr. Gary Steven Corseri is a m<\/em>ember of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.<\/a> He<\/em> has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including,<\/em> TMS (Transcend Media Service<\/a>)<\/a>, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and<\/em> Counterpunch.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on<\/em> PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere.\u00a0 He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons.\u00a0 Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were sorry to hear the bombs that were meant
\nto fall on a home adjacent to yours
\n(and one more, down a block or two)
\nhave lamentably ruined your daughter\u2019s wedding,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}