Monday, June 11, 1984

TO ALL THE PHOENICIANS LOST AT SEA

TO ALL THE PHOENICIANS LOST AT SEA
        "The worst day of violence
          since the Muslim revolt in February."
        – San Francisco Chronicle, 6/121984

June 11, 1984
The dead lay on bloodsoaked stretchers
in corporate doorways
Doctors shouted for more beds
There was no space left
in the hospital morgue
Witnesses said women –
some in nightgowns and slippers,
rushed out to bring
their children home
from school
and two men wept
in a Beirut parking lot.
Poets write of Central America
I can't talk about El Salvador
I have no Nicaraguan poems
My Central America is Beirut.

6/11/1984

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