Today’s blog post
has been canceled
as I practice Buddhism
and breathe tonglen
I breathe in
heavy-hearted helplessness
as we prepare to
drop more bombs on
people who seem
wedded to violence
violence answering violence
I breathe out
peace and connectedness
with my brothers and sisters
dropping bombs
on my brothers and sisters
peace and connectedness
For a moment
I feel their surety
following orders
or waging jihad
and we are one
in our righteousness
They are so wrong
we are so right
we cannot suffer
them to live
And suddenly, I become
Christian again
so I can have
a God from whom
to beg forgiveness
“I suggest that the history of bombing…is a history of endless atrocities, all calmly explained by deceptive and deadly language like ‘accident’, ‘military target’, and ‘collateral damage’.”[13]