Iraq Blues by Stephen J. Williams

I’m the soldier here
in heat beyond comprehension
longing for cool water

sweat
turning into salt pillars

men eventually falling down
into blurry mirages

Iraqi children chanting
for our choking death

whirl of wind
up from the endless sand
trying to blow us away

smear of black oil
boiling
on my face

madmen infesting their country
and ours
with the same majesty of sick words

burning
long desert into every land

I clean my weapon
more than I pray
for the end of this

here
where the sky is blue
smoke
always wailing.