Morning Bells in Marienplatz
“The government has collapsed. Kabul has descended into chaos. A spokesman says
the war is over.” 16 August 2021, BBC News
The wasps
in Munich dive-bomb
our breakfast plates, press
their gargoyled faces into our fried ham,
its salt, into the pink heft
of what they crave, bore
wasp-sized holes in the meat
and airlift the spoils. Slices
of sunlight cut across the red-
flocked window boxes of a stone
façade. The famed glock begins
to spiel and bell the hour. A carousel,
wakens slow, then starts its giant turn: dukes
and harlequin steeds reiterate ancient
hates: stab-stab-stab-recover, buglers
and jesters cheer. More clanks
and cogs, and there go the jigging coopers, jig-
jigging. When Kabul fell, when Kabul fell,
the charred bird cries thrice.
