Stephen A. Rozwenc

Poem # 1 untitled

what I have left behind
is a rich and haughty nation
who sells weapons all over the world
to perpetuate war
and worship the profits

I have arrived here
in this poignant Buddhist village
where every day
poor rice farmers
and other ordinary Thai people
visit the temple by the river
and purchase small birds and fish

the birds they set free from tiny cages
to swim newborn skies

the fish they release
from water filled plastic bags
to fly the river
of ever-changing fragility

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Poem #2 untitled

so that
the land mines would become begging bowls
filled with nectar
held aloft from their graves
by the cupped hands of the dead

so that
the one legged children would wrap
their detached limbs in smoldering cheesecloth
and offer them to the starved wolves
for food

so that
the cunning hole in the ozone layer
would become the mouthless ego
that swallows itself whole

so that

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Poem # 3 untitled

things to do in Bangkok today

floss

greet every query
with lotus blossom optimism

perform the elephant dance
for the dead
to prevent
weapons manufacturers
from starving children

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