Chilling

I saw a chilling photo:
Bashar al-Assad
at the bedside
of an earthquake survivor;

maybe also of gas,

and/or air strikes.

I can't help but wonder

if it makes him mad

that so many have died

without deploying sarin,

or an attack craft,

from the skies.

I saw a chilling photo:

Bashar al-Assad.

(RIP the 40,000 people, and counting, in Syria and Turkey. On 06/02/2023 the Kahramanmaras earthquake - that reached a massive magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale - and thousands of aftershocks, levelled the region. 

I am so sorry for all the suffering, and I am so sorry that the people of Syria had been suffering for so long already before this natural disaster).

Lost In Kilmac

There were two of us on Main Street
(a misleading name,
that might be more appropriately
called Only Thoroughfare).

She walked a little ahead.
She stopped in her tracks,
looked right and left.
Then up and back.
She laughed, and shook her head,
"Isn't it a fright to be lost in Kilmac."

We are so safe here, and

this village is an easy mark.

Over in Mashhad,

it's no joke to be lost.

Law shifts like sand,

injustice at its beating heart.

Our own Bernard Phelan 

is being forcibly detained

for being a touring European,

and, when not in jail,

promotes Iran as a destination.

Seemingly the only dual citizen

to ever use a passport,

he was the one-in-a-million

to take photos,

see the sights,

send postcards.

And now he is on hunger strike.

(Update: Bernard Phelan was freed in May 2023).

(Explanation: FREE BERNARD PHELAN.

When I was writing this poem, Bernard Phelan was on hunger strike. I am relieved to hear that his sister persuaded him to return to eating, but I am so sorry that Bernard Phelan has not been released yet.

Here is a summary, and update on his situation.)