Chatham Peace Vigil
The lunch counter TV is busy.
My sandwich is slow, but
sitting feels good after standing
the hour in the village square.
Freight trains going by, waves
& honks from cars for the graying crowd
at the peace vigil on the 8th
anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
the knit caps & scarves, even two dogs
(they put the "pee" in "peace").
But it didn't work: on TV
a fighter plane tumbles out of the sky
over Libya, "more war" the pundits say
(while we said "no more war").
I eat in peace, for now
while the killing is televised.
Tomorrow I will be back on the street.
-Dan Wilcox
Used by permission.
Dan Wilcox is a poet & peace activist who also hosts the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center in Albany, NY. He is a member of the poetry performance group "3 Guys from Albany" & is an active member of Veterans for Peace. You can read his Blog at dwlcx.blogspot.com.
Wilcox was on the panel The Public Role of Poetry: How to Build a Poetry Reading at Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness 2010.
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