It’s a holiday weekend,
And I’d like to write
Some joyous verse.
But reality rules.
In Paris,
Armed with a box cutter,
A jihadi attacked a French soldier—
(Anything to do
With last week’s murdered
London troop?).
In India,
To promote their cause
Maoist rebels kill seventeen.
Sweden’s dull prosperity
Is shattered
By angry immigrants
Rioting, smashing, burning—
Responding to
Perceived neglect.
(They could, of course
Return from whence they came,
Where, doubtless,
They flourished.)
In Pakistan,
Where costly regulation
Is ignored,
A bus blew up—
Killed 15 children
And their teacher.
Our current,
Salient military issue?
Commanders plead
With macho troops
To stop raping
Their female comrades.
Among the most interesting
New species discovered in 2012—
A cockroach
That glows in the dark.
(5/26/13)