Infamy

I. December 7th 1941

Alarms.
Chaos.

Terror.
7:48am is too early to say goodnight.

Oklahoma, California, Nevada, Utah,
West Virginia, and Arizona: goodnight.

Sailors scurry like rabbits
As the hawks fly above –

Screeching engines
Flashing talons—

Nurses marking men with an M
on their forehead.

But pain can be held at bay
only so long—

II. August 6th & 9th 1945

So our falconers ready themselves
over the shores of Hiroshima and Nagasaki --

Jesses released — and we mark the forehead
of the human race with another indelible scar.