Читать книгу A Perhaps Line - Gary D. Swaim - Страница 13

May

Ken Lay guts Enron and five-thousand lives.

Mel Gibson screams anti-Semitic virulence then

apologizes, of course. Gunter Grass admits

membership in the Nazi SS. I sleep.

June

Episcopal Church names a woman its leader.

Iraq mission still not accomplished. Bang the drums.

Palestinians and Israelites trash the peace talks, again.

Three Guantánamo detainees cinch ropes about their necks,

swing from low-hanging rafters. I still sleep.

July

Saddam Hussein, fed by tube for weeks (not unlike I)

is dead. I stir and smile, I’m told. Stem cell research bill

passes, 63-37. Bush vetoes. I feel a scowl crawl my face.

Ken Lay dies, coronary artery disease. Sure. And, my stubbed

toe put me in ICU. I turn onto my side.

August

Nothing happens . . . or . . . maybe now, I just don’t care.

I turn to my other side.

September

U.S. marks five-year anniversary of terrorist attack, 9/11.

Let me sleep all this away. How “the world is too much

with us.” The Illinois Governor has just been sentenced

to six months for racketeering. Welcome back to awareness.

The Pope reads a 14th century manuscript, decrying Islam

as evil and inhuman.” Rolling over, going back to sleep.

October

Hamas and Fatah tear pieces of Palestine away, leaving

10 dead, 100 wounded. I am awake and bathed with sadness.

A lone gunman enters an Amish school, kills three children.

I’m being prepared for dismissal. I fear the world outside

these walls.