Poem – A stiff razor-edged blade slices (By Gil Hoy)

A stiff razor-edged blade slices – By Gil Hoy

 

through pulsating flesh, as

the hot orange sun glistens

on freshly red-tainted steel.

 

No moans, no cries, no gasps,

as the core of a rational caring

human being falls to the ground

with a sickening thud.

 

A disgusted Prime Minister,

with rows of soldiers in

neatly pressed uniforms and brass

buttons, condemns an uncivilized

 

war and the provocative evil

natives who dared to show

the world what a savage brutal

killing entails. The monstrous

 

revenge of bombs continues to

rein down on villages of the weak,

who have no say over anything,

but find themselves in the firing

 

zone, their deaths ordered by

faceless masters they do not know,

unconcerned with politics, just

wanting another day’s food and

 

shelter, while flies rub their legs

together on a decaying woman

and villagers move piles of rubble

from the paths of carts carrying

 

corpses. A beaming child skips

along the beach in her wildly

carefree exuberance, dexterously

dodging the sea tide of leftover

 

puddles, not knowing about the

boys coming home in body bags

from ruinous wars that she never

would have wanted, awed by

 

the rhythmic tidal sounds and

the smell of sea salt. A bagpipe

player in full regalia ruminates

about how the world still wages

 

war and plays haunting songs in

the sand.  A disgraced soldier

receives God’s commendation

for abandoning the flag and

 

disobeying a command, while a

hungry soulless seagull flies

overhead instinctively looking

for life in the sea’s puddles.

 

Author Bio:
Gil Hoy is a Boston trial lawyer and is currently studying poetry at Boston University, through its Evergreen program, where he previously received a BA in Philosophy and Political Science. Hoy received an MA in Government from Georgetown University and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. He served as a Brookline, Massachusetts Selectman for four terms. Hoy started writing poetry two years ago. Since then, his work has appeared in Third Wednesday, The Write Room, The Eclectic Muse, Clark Street Review, The New Verse News, Harbinger Asylum, Soul Fountain, The Story Teller Magazine, Eye on Life Magazine, Stepping Stones Magazine, The Penmen Review, To Hold A Moment Still (Harbinger Asylum’s 2014 Holidays Anthology), The Zodiac Review, Earl of Plaid Literary Journal, The Potomac, Antarctica Journal, The Montucky Review and elsewhere.