a quiet office
signs the order for the bomb
lunch is at twelve sharp.
the contract is signed
the hidden clause is written
in another's blood.
one button to press
a world away, a fire blooms
the report is filed.
the law was followed
the procedure was perfect
the result, monstrous.
we speak of abstracts,
"collateral," "the asset,"
to silence the scream.

the news is muted
while we eat our evening meal
the sound is too sharp.
the screen shows a war
we change the channel, anxious
to protect our peace.
a convenient truth
wrapped in a plastic language
to throw away.
the pleasant fiction
is easier to swallow
than the bitter fact.
we build the high wall
to keep the consequence out
and our conscience in.

the deep mine is sealed
with the truth inside, preserved
in salty darkness.
the field is buried
beneath the new shopping mall
the bones are quiet.
the trash floats downstream
to a poorer village's shore
our water is clean.
the market is up.
a child's price is not listed
on today's exchange.
a moral credit
bought to offset the damage
we have no plans to stop.

we save the panda
while the last unnamed insect
vanishes unseen.
the zoo's tiger cub
"saved" from the wild it once knew
paces on cold stone.
the flag waves proudly
hiding the face of the dead
a necessary cost.
the bullet is made
by a father who kisses
his children goodnight.
the mother bear's rage
has no place in the briefing room
it is not efficient.