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Window of the Black Moon*
By Carol Carpenter

February is the fast month,
full of shackled hearts and lunacy,
that cold, cold month when cousin Mark
limped off the plane at Metro,
thrown out of Vietnam, no longer in uniform
with silver crutches
and one pinned-up pant leg.

His mind a savaged moon
puckered with unmapped craters
where the air strikes whistled
a catchy refrain to an old, old tune:
Persian Gulf, Iraq, Kosovo.

He alone faced the TV news,
with red-streaked eyes,
with tributaries of red, red blood
flowing pure from the source,
his heart.

Even today,
he longs for war, a bloody battle
against the black, black moon
that bumps against his chest.
______________________________

* “The days just before and after
February 26 when the moon is dark may
offer the ideal window for US forces to
launch a nighttime attack on Iraq.”
from “The Detroit News,” 02/13/98