—TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

 

However

 

I can’t twirl forever

the geese are honking like 

they’re delivering triplets 

without any anesthetic and 

the sky’s wearing broken eyes again

blinking without thinking 

I saw a mangled raccoon 

on the road today

its head ripped off 

and dropped somewhere

in a gutter

it’s striped tail perfectly intact 

like a fur coat a model might wear 

striding swanky on a Milan runway 

and I’m not sure what any of it means

dead animals or dead kids

Netanyahu bombing Gaza again 

when there’s nothing left

but dust or bones made of dust

from the thousands slaughtered

and now another hundred more

32 of them children

just fucking kids 

like my own 

like my niece and nephew 

and so when you ask me again

What’s the trouble this time?

I stop twirling 

reach for the curtain

and pull