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• Banned in Geneva

This Open Eye

Swollen shut the right
eye seeps semi-clotted
blood that streams
and blotches a map of
hell across the three-
year-old face. Wide
open, the left eye
appears injury-free—
untouched, but
ultimately more
lethal.
Through this open
eye the child sees
the world that has
closed the other.

Copyright © Reggie Marra

Give It Back

Commander-in-Chief
photo op over
we learn the
vehicle that crushed your
legs and pelvis was
American driven. Your
Purple Heart a mistake,
you have to
give
it
back.
Your
splintered bones,
real—
those
you get to keep.

Copyright © Reggie Marra

Banned in Geneva

Backs, thighs, faces and heads
awash in a rash of deep scarlet
spots—shrapnel shards buried
an inch into the flesh, wailing
children live stories of bombs
falling like grapes from the sky.

Sunday 10:30 AM in Nadr
Rahed Hakem hears the
voices of the explosions
sees the sky raining fire.

Mohammed Moussa sees
clusters of little boxes that
fall like grapefruit from the sky.

Some explode still airborne
some on impact
some remain
unexploded
in our
home.

Ten brain surgeries here
to remove metal from heads.

None
in London or
D.C.

Copyright © Reggie Marra