Near 5 AM Watching Death and Waiting


After time behind the bar
in Summer, waiting for Hour
of the Wolf, waiting as Stout
slow pours: essence of black
with a cap of white. Sipping
double Jameson's, the sting
and burn of it in half-light.
All the rheostats down,
the only source of illumination
what the Death Channel provides:
endless wars, WWII news reels,
Pacific theater footage, kamikaze
on the quarter deck......
...."we who are about to die salute you"
sayonara songs then, a new Irish toast
in an Irish bar now. A hint of dawn
beyond the brownstones, History
Channel recording all those senseless
deaths, sending camera crews where
it is hot, collecting evidence, images,
from today's war, the tomorrow war,
all the wars to come.


                            Alan Catlin