The Power Behind The Nothing

5/21/02

west bank jihad for small gods
in small minds, for lands in
cafe shrapnel, in screaming babes,
in ignorance forced, in faith
divorced reality, in old despots.

protest, revolt, impose, demand
the peace that isn’t, parades for
love to breed nationalism in youth,
in two wrongs. mouths filled with
talks, venom, and blooded fields.

forsook, recycled war martyrs
for Allah, in history, in listless
Templars, in fervor of blowing
up Israelis, in reverence to selfish
gods, in the temple of love.

trembling in the blasted sands
in the fluent symbols, in blood,
in hate, in the eyes of children,
in the sounds of mourning and
the power behind the nothing.