Poem of the Week, Who Killed Osama Bin Laden?, George Guida

In the spirit of being just a tad bit late (or, in this case, a lot late) with things, we're going to give you a Poem of the Week this week, since as you might know we won't be able to post the Summer Issue until Saturday at the earliest (but hopefully no later). Links will be up on Facebook and emails will  be sent out when the momentous event does occur and all of our difficulties straighten out (OK, maybe too much to ask for. Let's give that what, five years?), and we would like to apologize profusely and/or cybernetically genuflect as we ask for your forgiveness for the delay. Usually when an issue comes out we skip the Poem of the Week that week, but we feel bad.

Oh by the way, have you heard? Osama Bin Laden's dead. And Happy 4th. This poem is strangely patriotic, that is, if you celebrate the death of one man as a way for a nation of millions to assert superiority...

Who Killed Osama Bin Laden?
by George Guida

Yes, it could have been
the Philadelphia Phillies,
the way their fans are chanting,
“U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!”

Or maybe my alcoholic neighbor
who was absent from his deck today.
He drives an S-U-V, S-U-V, S-U-V
and appears more sober of late.

The motive is clear for
subway conductors living since 2001
in fear unquelled by random
bag checks and passenger cops.

As it is for the Arab boy born
in Brooklyn, sickened for life
by agents unmanning
his father on Flatbush Avenue.

My own boy is surely too young,
but my father is not above suspicion.
He’s a crack shot from fifty yards
and a rock-ribbed Republican.

But the joy is bipartisan,
so it could have been
the Peace Corps or all nine
Supreme Court Justices.

Or it could have been a what,
“The Star-Spangled Banner”
sung at fierce volume
near the White House lawn.

Or, wait, they’re about to announce it
on CNN, IPad, pda,
broadcast the President’s speech
that will explain him finally away.