please refrain



first we



got lightly braised with botanicals

ate a hell of a barbecue

and applied a de-humanizing cream



then we

took our beers down

to the computer room,



there to view

forty or fifty

photos,



captured scenes

from the desert war

in

Mesopotamia.



As our soldier

friend

disbursed the

facts,



some of the gathered

civilians

uttered halting



coos

chatter

bluster

cheers



over the unexpectedly

stark,

detailed,

pornographically

violent

images of



charred humans,

split bodies,

generally



maimed

people,



ruined lives,



wounded

kids, etc.



Yet these remarks

seemed also shy

naive

halting

foalish



as if their owners

hadn't come quite prepared

to stand upon

any



spindle-legged compassion

or



walking

abortion

of afterbirth

empathy