Veronica Pamoukaghlian: THE WEDDING

10 seconds in the news

the blood over the icing

this is the End
the Wed of Western violence
and Eastern stubbornness

the babies killed in revelling

40 dead
and human error
six seconds in the news

they gathered for a wedding

under the bombings
a Feast of love and lace

Not the Resistance
Armed

peaceful revellers

a helpless celebration
of life

in the Storm’s Eye

easier an elephant
though you bleed it to death
through the eye of a needle

than to slay life
persistent
with a mere stain
of blood over the icing

with a mere 40
most women and children

5 seconds in the news
the Wedding Wake