"I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."
-Edith Cavell, Last words, October 12, 1915

"Needles in skin"

Stabbing safety pins
through thin muscle tissue
watching the bubble and pop
of old blisters
with a certain grim fascination
an obession with recession
He's waiting for my speech
standing up there with a hole for a tongue
blood dripping on the microphone
eyes gouged out and fed to the dogs
Nails in my feet
Keeping me in place
atrophy room
sagging slack bronze
flying awol over a desert not his own
a flaccid office
impotently important
venting his frustration on the people of the east
caught in the middle
crammed between padded polls and public idiocy
hail to the theif


"I see blood, everywhere"