Cathy Hollister Again

Again

for Nate

Waters were deep and still in those pale blue eyes troubled and dark as the shallow Vietnamese canals infested by Swift boats swift to escape swift to patrol swift to kill swift to crush the rest of his days

Those eyes, alone, floating in alcohol kindness born of a need to repent crude jokes and cold beer his camouflage Red the threat that tripped dominoes triggered the nightmares

Today, terror grows best in oil fields

Dollar knows best to disregard the broken pieces littered ‘round the globe coveys of do-gooders smoke and sing but hide from the hawk rising from the fog who assuages our guilt stirs our patriotic selves into righteous justification swift to control to take and take again and again

Cathy Hollister

Cathy Hollister has had work published in OpenDoor Magazine, Beyond Words, and others. She lives in middle Tennessee.