Robert Lee Brewer
(USA)
on a hilltop outside sderot
we watch as the rockets strike
& cheer on our padded chairs
popping popcorn & thinking
better them than us & we
know what comes around will go
still on this hill a front row
the sun setting we believe
we will win when others lose
quid pro quo
bullet for a gun
trigger for a finger
father for a son
lose one from a stinger
sadness for a death
revenge for a killing
darkness for a breath
aching & then stilling
an eye for an eye
dollars for dropping bombs
a tooth for a tooth
never stopping
here they come
if i could stop one thing
i would start with the bullets racing through your skin
& then the bombs
the words that escaped your mouth
the thoughts we shared
that we should’ve kept close to our hearts
if i could stop one thing i would not stop there if i could
because our hands
should slot into each other & our mouths
when not kissing should
release all the love concealed in our hearts
i would start with the moment i first tasted your skin
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Bio:
Robert Lee Brewer is the author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53) and Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community. He’s married to the poet Tammy Foster Brewer, who helps him keep track of their five little poets. If he could stop one thing, it would be the violence we commit against each other and ourselves.
Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer
http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.fr/
http://www.robertleebrewer.com/