Kyiv Couture

Dressing up in Kevlar and gas masks, combat boots and fatigues,
window dressing of diplomatic posturing, advertisements for economic sanctions,

rose red liquid bouquets arrive by air and land,
candlelit dinner dates of canned rations,

reading the news you realize the war never ended
and World War II is World War I on a grander scale

and World War I was unfinished business of Napoleon
and the Crimean War was just taking a half-time break

while Russia aired ads about being cheated on the sale of Alaska
and play will resume after Kublai Khan tries to invade Japan, again

and Snoop Dog is shilling music on the 21st century Chitlin’ Circuit
tap dancing with Bojangles while Eminem impersonates Al Jolson

and they call it half-time entertainment
and the Dakotas are a tax haven to fund the resurrection of Custer

and China is just now getting into colonizing Africa
and the War of Democratic Aggression is somehow still a Northern thing

and conflicted privileged white men had their man servant
add so much cream to their cup of MLK coffee

that it is hard to tell he was once black and bitter on the tongue
and reading the news you wish the war would end

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Al Black is a Hoosier in the land of cotton. He writes poetry and hosts workshops and arts events in the midlands of South Carolina. He is author of two books of poetry, I Only Left for Tea (2014 Muddy Ford Press), Man with Two Shadows (2018 Muddy Ford Press); co-editor Hand in Hand: Poets Respond to Race (2017 Muddy Ford Press); co-founded the Poets Respond to Race Initiative , co-hosts the Chewing the Gristle (a poetry chat Youtube series) and was the 2017 Jasper Literary Artist of the Year.File Upload