Take an infinite and then add one,

sonnet no. lxxxvii

I began this series as a way to respond to current events. As of this writing, October 18th, approximately 4,461 people have died between the West Bank (61), Israel (1,400), and Gaza (3,000), with 1 six-year-old murdered in an insane act of retribution outside Chicago.

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SONNET

Take an infinite and then add one,
That’s what you’ve done.  There’s an infinite.

Take what you’ve done to make the world want one,
Eye against eye        one against one,
There’s an infinite.  You just add one.

I went searching for safety in a field of knives,
Ones against ones        eyes against eyes,
Met infinites with their lips chalked white,
& mothers & grandfathers & children were white.

And the ground was scorched, and riddled the wall,
And a strange call to prayer was the air,
And the sand hated its grain, grain against grain

Reeked of retribution, perpetual sons
Adding ones, never done.  And there’s an infinite.

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Eye against eye one against one