Somewhere . . .
in the backstreets of Mosul
(or maybe Falluja)
it happens like a
meteor streaking across the
pre-dawn horizon
A girl — Bint al-Ard —
standing before a window
conjures
a new thought
that has never been thought
by any man before
a new seed, if planted,
that might shake the earth out of its place
Before she can savor more than three
seconds of epiphany,
before the joy of revelation
flashes in her eyes,
she is mistaken for an “insurgent”
(or was it “terrorist”?)
Sun begins to rise
Rays of light shoot through
bullet holes in her tattered window shade
The girl takes her last breath
as yet another day begins
Mickey Z. is the author of several books, most recently 50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know: Reclaiming American Patriotism (Disinformation Books). He can be found on the Web at
http://www.mickeyz.net.