selected poems
Flight Characteristics of Human Blood and Stain Patterns
In healthy adults, volume is from 4.5 to 6.0 liters;
not unlike other fluids, it will act in a predictable manner
when subjected to external forces.
Target surface considerations: size, shape, directionality.
Falling through air from fingertip
it will be larger than a drop from hypodermic, smaller
than if from baseball bat.
Viscosity is defined as resistance to change of form or flow.
The stain produced by freefall is a function of volume,
the texture it impacts; in order to create spatter tension must be disturbed,
surfaces ruptured.
Size range is dependent on quantity, on caliber
and impeding factors, such as hair, clothing, etc.
Elongated a stain points in the direction of travel,
if found on the underside of table and chair
he/she was on or near floor—
(fist, bat, concrete block)
the number of blows effects resulting pattern.
She is lying prone, lower body on linoleum floor, left arm flexed inward,
white pharmacy bag around wrist, she is wearing gold bracelets and a watch.
Figure 9.12 Impact spatter produced by beating mechanism.
Note: The text of the poem is collaged source material taken from Recognition of Bloodstain Patterns by Stuart H. James, Paul E. Kish, and T. Paulette Sutton
– First published in Scapegoat Review
not unlike other fluids, it will act in a predictable manner
when subjected to external forces.
Target surface considerations: size, shape, directionality.
Falling through air from fingertip
it will be larger than a drop from hypodermic, smaller
than if from baseball bat.
Viscosity is defined as resistance to change of form or flow.
The stain produced by freefall is a function of volume,
the texture it impacts; in order to create spatter tension must be disturbed,
surfaces ruptured.
Size range is dependent on quantity, on caliber
and impeding factors, such as hair, clothing, etc.
Elongated a stain points in the direction of travel,
if found on the underside of table and chair
he/she was on or near floor—
(fist, bat, concrete block)
the number of blows effects resulting pattern.
She is lying prone, lower body on linoleum floor, left arm flexed inward,
white pharmacy bag around wrist, she is wearing gold bracelets and a watch.
Figure 9.12 Impact spatter produced by beating mechanism.
Note: The text of the poem is collaged source material taken from Recognition of Bloodstain Patterns by Stuart H. James, Paul E. Kish, and T. Paulette Sutton
– First published in Scapegoat Review
Bootstrap, Pyre, Shattered Teeth
Blame it all on frenzy, or the calamitous prophetic
the boot came down again, and again.
Someone said stomp, a crowd gathered,
cheered.
What outfit is appropriate, what shoes
for such a day.
Apollonia had her teeth pulled
with pliers by one account,
another had them shattered
boot strap black.
Someone likened it to a soccer ball,
how her head was lifted from the pavement,
saying something that sounded like chastity,
or maybe it was pyre.
– First published in Moria
the boot came down again, and again.
Someone said stomp, a crowd gathered,
cheered.
What outfit is appropriate, what shoes
for such a day.
Apollonia had her teeth pulled
with pliers by one account,
another had them shattered
boot strap black.
Someone likened it to a soccer ball,
how her head was lifted from the pavement,
saying something that sounded like chastity,
or maybe it was pyre.
– First published in Moria
Excerpt from the book-length poem War Rug
War Rug is a work of documentary poetics in the form of a book length poem. Multiple interwoven narratives explore life within zones of conflict as viewed through the lens of current warfare. The narratives range from passages inspired by journal entries, firsthand accounts, and news reports to poetic constructs collaged from military doctrine, Freedom of Information Act released government documents (like CIA interrogation manuals, and detainee autopsy reports), and numerous other sources.
from War Rug
Flash a body reduced to beads of glass
fused in sand at the blast point’s edge.
Filigree
the lace of an exposed cheek
over tooth and jaw;
impossibly white.
Pause the space between light
and the rush of sound that crushes breath
from Kevlar and rib;
a moment of clarity
before the market erupts, before
the Humvee pitches, then drops to its side.
Afterimage
a thickening of scar tissue, the absence
of expression, of an eardrum,
of an iris.
***
[ Definitions
Enucleation: Complete surgical removal of the eyeball.
Evisceration: Surgical removal of the contents of the eyeball
with retention of the sclera or cornea and sclera.
Exenteration: Surgical removal of all the eyeball contents
which may include the removal of the eyelids.
Ocular Prosthesis: A plastic or glass fabricated eye
that replaces volume of the enucleated eye socket. ]
***
It begins with a photograph and a rug; that so much can be woven
into both, one in dyed wool, the other scar tissue against the undisturbed
surface of her hand. It’s in her eyes. I know it’s cliché but look, there is
something there—unsaid. Resignation, resolve, or just “God damn it,
we’ve planned this since high school, you will not take this away from
me too.” She is in white, he a dress uniform, three-quarter view. The eye
facing the camera is glass—impenetrable.
The rug is tribal, meant for prayer. It is one of the few things I kept.
They say the weaving of bombs into its borders, machine guns and tanks
began during the Russian occupation; now the images are of planes en route,
buildings on fire, the flag—American.
***
How do you move 1,000 pounds of concrete,
separate bodies from debris,
twisted as steel bar
at the exposed edge of a wound;
in the expanse of aftermath, broken pieces
a uniform shade of red,
how do you know your own;
how do you reconcile
the hand held is no longer attached, phantom pain
is the body missing limb, not the reverse;
that you still wake in your clothing
between adrenaline and exhaustion,
that the year begins as it ended, will end
as it began?
***
The T-shirt reads Kill ‘em all. Let God sort ‘em out; skull on black cotton,
3XL. They say 20,000 to 100,000 were killed, the exact number in dispute.
What makes this a crusade, what number a massacre? In 1209 AD crusaders
asked how to tell Catholics from heretics—the response, from the Latin,
Kill them all. God—will know his own.
***
[ IMAGE:
Relatives of the victims with corpses
outside Baghdad’s al-Kindi hospital. ]
***
[ Emergency Condition Responses
Code Green: cut hand, scrape, broken arm, nausea,
and headache.
Code Yellow: decreased level of consciousness,
chest pain, unconsciousness for unknown reason,
loss of feeling/motor skills in an extremity.
Code Red: penetrating trauma to the torso, severe
loss of blood, severe head injury, and chest pain
followed by unconsciousness.
Code Blue: no breathing/no heartbeat.
Code Black: Rigor mortis, Post mortem lividity,
decapitation, decomposition, etc. ]
***
Black the ash from a burning car
the color of lung tissue, of sutures,
dried blood where glass
made ribbons of skin;
it is what deepens over ribcage,
tells of fracture, of the grind
of bone against bone;
it is a body wrapped in cellophane,
packed in ice, the bag
in which it is zippered,
the color of digging to the height of a man,
of clawing one’s face, that of soil
held tightly in hand.
***
[ CARTRIDGE, 7.62MM, ARMOR PIERCING
used in rifles and machine guns against personnel
and light armored or unarmored targets;
a hollow cinder block, both sides of a car body,
internal walls, partitions, plaster, floors, ceilings,
office furniture, home appliances,
and bedding can be easily penetrated. ]
***
Bedding. Penetrated. The Bushmaster Chain Gun™ meets the warfighter’s
needs. The brochure tells that it is more flexible, reliable than others;
among its attributes—scaleable lethality.
Again black; the background of a magazine ad, glossy stock. It reads
Over 120 models with one thing in common... inspired by the human hand.
The image is of fingers curled around nothing, suggesting the grip of a gun.
Is it the gloss, the implied wetness that is allure? Or the fingers on the verge
of tightening—the spasm that would follow.
***
Ten paces from this doorway
a hollow of stone
not so much shelter
as a wall against which
to flatten my back
continue to count
a breath of a pause, six round burst
two second hold, one
single crack
and twenty more paces
from this wall to his body,
his body to doorway, my back
to that wall.
***
[ Definitions
Penetration: The tissue through which the projectile passes,
and which it disrupts or destroys.
Permanent Cavity: The volume of space once occupied by tissue
that has been destroyed by the passage of the projectile.
Fragmentation: Projectile pieces or secondary fragments of bone
which are impelled outward from the permanent cavity
and may sever muscle tissues, blood vessels, etc. ]
***
– First published in XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics
and in LUDWIG (translated into the Italian)
from War Rug
Flash a body reduced to beads of glass
fused in sand at the blast point’s edge.
Filigree
the lace of an exposed cheek
over tooth and jaw;
impossibly white.
Pause the space between light
and the rush of sound that crushes breath
from Kevlar and rib;
a moment of clarity
before the market erupts, before
the Humvee pitches, then drops to its side.
Afterimage
a thickening of scar tissue, the absence
of expression, of an eardrum,
of an iris.
***
[ Definitions
Enucleation: Complete surgical removal of the eyeball.
Evisceration: Surgical removal of the contents of the eyeball
with retention of the sclera or cornea and sclera.
Exenteration: Surgical removal of all the eyeball contents
which may include the removal of the eyelids.
Ocular Prosthesis: A plastic or glass fabricated eye
that replaces volume of the enucleated eye socket. ]
***
It begins with a photograph and a rug; that so much can be woven
into both, one in dyed wool, the other scar tissue against the undisturbed
surface of her hand. It’s in her eyes. I know it’s cliché but look, there is
something there—unsaid. Resignation, resolve, or just “God damn it,
we’ve planned this since high school, you will not take this away from
me too.” She is in white, he a dress uniform, three-quarter view. The eye
facing the camera is glass—impenetrable.
The rug is tribal, meant for prayer. It is one of the few things I kept.
They say the weaving of bombs into its borders, machine guns and tanks
began during the Russian occupation; now the images are of planes en route,
buildings on fire, the flag—American.
***
How do you move 1,000 pounds of concrete,
separate bodies from debris,
twisted as steel bar
at the exposed edge of a wound;
in the expanse of aftermath, broken pieces
a uniform shade of red,
how do you know your own;
how do you reconcile
the hand held is no longer attached, phantom pain
is the body missing limb, not the reverse;
that you still wake in your clothing
between adrenaline and exhaustion,
that the year begins as it ended, will end
as it began?
***
The T-shirt reads Kill ‘em all. Let God sort ‘em out; skull on black cotton,
3XL. They say 20,000 to 100,000 were killed, the exact number in dispute.
What makes this a crusade, what number a massacre? In 1209 AD crusaders
asked how to tell Catholics from heretics—the response, from the Latin,
Kill them all. God—will know his own.
***
[ IMAGE:
Relatives of the victims with corpses
outside Baghdad’s al-Kindi hospital. ]
***
[ Emergency Condition Responses
Code Green: cut hand, scrape, broken arm, nausea,
and headache.
Code Yellow: decreased level of consciousness,
chest pain, unconsciousness for unknown reason,
loss of feeling/motor skills in an extremity.
Code Red: penetrating trauma to the torso, severe
loss of blood, severe head injury, and chest pain
followed by unconsciousness.
Code Blue: no breathing/no heartbeat.
Code Black: Rigor mortis, Post mortem lividity,
decapitation, decomposition, etc. ]
***
Black the ash from a burning car
the color of lung tissue, of sutures,
dried blood where glass
made ribbons of skin;
it is what deepens over ribcage,
tells of fracture, of the grind
of bone against bone;
it is a body wrapped in cellophane,
packed in ice, the bag
in which it is zippered,
the color of digging to the height of a man,
of clawing one’s face, that of soil
held tightly in hand.
***
[ CARTRIDGE, 7.62MM, ARMOR PIERCING
used in rifles and machine guns against personnel
and light armored or unarmored targets;
a hollow cinder block, both sides of a car body,
internal walls, partitions, plaster, floors, ceilings,
office furniture, home appliances,
and bedding can be easily penetrated. ]
***
Bedding. Penetrated. The Bushmaster Chain Gun™ meets the warfighter’s
needs. The brochure tells that it is more flexible, reliable than others;
among its attributes—scaleable lethality.
Again black; the background of a magazine ad, glossy stock. It reads
Over 120 models with one thing in common... inspired by the human hand.
The image is of fingers curled around nothing, suggesting the grip of a gun.
Is it the gloss, the implied wetness that is allure? Or the fingers on the verge
of tightening—the spasm that would follow.
***
Ten paces from this doorway
a hollow of stone
not so much shelter
as a wall against which
to flatten my back
continue to count
a breath of a pause, six round burst
two second hold, one
single crack
and twenty more paces
from this wall to his body,
his body to doorway, my back
to that wall.
***
[ Definitions
Penetration: The tissue through which the projectile passes,
and which it disrupts or destroys.
Permanent Cavity: The volume of space once occupied by tissue
that has been destroyed by the passage of the projectile.
Fragmentation: Projectile pieces or secondary fragments of bone
which are impelled outward from the permanent cavity
and may sever muscle tissues, blood vessels, etc. ]
***
– First published in XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics
and in LUDWIG (translated into the Italian)
