San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly

Barbara Cogswell
 
At A Time Like This
 
let me make it clear;
my preference is silence
 
stifle the surreptitious hisses
the subliminal throb of machines
 
tap out no machine gun drum roll
or lock step cadence
 
clank no bayonets
let no rifle rip the air
 
for God’s sake
still the pipes pitched wheeze
 
and please;
no speeches