Under Fire
(for Alice Oswald)
Knowing we’re under fire is more than a beginning
it’s a flash turning, a leap into a diminishing space
between life and death
A war on civilians is ongoing
day and night in Gaza and Kyiv
so also here, amid a flow of traffic
not entirely random, each vehicle driven
for a singular purpose unrelated to the others
unless we look more closely, widely
at how things are related, a maze of roadways,
supply of fuels, manufacture and sales of vehicles
of maps and memories, of GPS
What’s actual there is possible here
troops are trained, planes circling
ammo stockpiled, war games practiced
‘millions for defense, not a cent for tribute’
those in power are watching, listening
straining at customary but fragile limits
wanting all power with no opposition
civilians are obstacles by existence and expectations
by memory of rule of law, of somewhat fair elections
of the structures and practices of democracy
They would show us at any cost (to us),
saying; those are over. The only practice
you need now is obedience.
The Dog Star 
One Response to “Under Fire”
Grim.
True.