from Green Zone New Orleans

by Mark Yakich, Guest-edited by Pia Ehrhardt, September 2009

II

For I shall leave no
Inheritance but this

Napkin, and thus I have
Come into this napkin

And killed many
Enemies of the State.

Black and pink.
Black and lilac. Black

And scarlet. Black and maize.
Black and orange, a rich

Harmony. Black and white,
A perfect harmony. Black

And brown, a dull harmony.
Black and drab or buff.

Black, white or yellow
And crimson. Black,

Orange, blue and scarlet.
Black and chocolate

Brown. Black and shaded
Cardinal. Black and

Cardinal. Black, cardinal,
Blue and old gold.

Black, yellow, bronze,
Blood and sky blue.

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III

Forecast calls for purpose:
Today there’s a difference

Between patriotism and racism.
One puts a varnish on

Barbarism, and the other
Lets barbarians

Varnish the hardwood floors.
Facts first: Jesus was

A gay, black man.
Just say it aloud

And see how nice
It sounds. One reader

Replaces another
Like one leader defeats

One thousand brothers.
Ultimately people are

Meant to be killed.
You can go

To the bookstore
And move all the bibles

To the fiction section.
But what’s that

Going to get you?
A backache and your wife’s

Mock admiration.
It’s far better to ask Christ

To forgive us
These Christians.

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VII

Forget some call love
Bedside grammar:

The body rules
And it’s a trick

Of the mind
Not to think so.

You’ll never
See your own

Corpse and nobody
Will ever know

Your mind.
God exists to give

Your daughter
Someone to believe in

When you’re gone.
On the other

Hand, one day
She will ask

You a question
You don’t know

The answer to,
Because the answer is

The question.
Don’t act

Nonplussed.
What’s the meaning of

Life,
For example,

Is simply a claim
To intelligence

And a pledge
That no other

Hand exists beyond
This one in hers.

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Mark Yakich is currently working on The Airplane Reader, a memoir and survival guide for flying, co-authored with Christopher Schaberg.


Poet’s Recommendations:

Not waving but drowning: Poems by Stevie Smith

Ants Have Sex in Your Beer by David Shrigley