{in the continuing attempt to write outside the mirror}


demand statement (a translation)

we slept under the dead so long
their wounds became our mouths

an eye for an eye / no. we are all out
of eyes. too much blood
to call anything even

understand this: once everyone you love
is dead, the gun
grows remarkably light

as if the bullets were bones

Chechnya. the word a hushing
/ my son had eyes
like the poster you show the reporter

my son, my son is in there

this is not retribution. this is a call
to attention, the girl bleeding out
in the bathtub, a success at last

I know the right way to turn a razor, too

the explosives warm my belly like a child
/ I try not to remember / wire fingers
digging, hold on Isa hold

there are no innocents, not anymore. what
are you doing
to stop this / my son
had eyes
like that.