An embarrassment, to forget
over short eats, ignore the bundle
on his back, that sloshed
set of poetry he cannot avoid
carrying, an appendix,
reptilian brain, fascination
with naming elements
of the crime, breadth
of carpet strafing
of civilians in tents
on banks of the lagoon,
while tails for the ball
are rented
and we sit down
to quail and goose,
although elements
of the meal have
no political meaning.
They are foods for festive
or special occasions: here
fundraising, so ordinary
citizens can travel
to see the miscreant
dictatorship, dressed
in civvies, mixed in
with the crowd,
not in a killing field,
drawn up in advance,
but the larger and
harder-to-manage
masses of the post-war
streets, and report
what they find
before the police visit.