Twin Tower Response

By David Pointer

She shows pictures of an Iraqi billboard
Saddam Hussein riding in a fiery chariot,

her late brother emailed all these pictures
before his humvee floorboard exploded

grief entombs us like a shared grave as I
pass back the increasingly heavier photos,

pungent burning metal melting our way,
faltering, we pokerface for any new façade

Invisible Jewl

It was time to tuck in all
rear echelon office pogues,
Bill Jewl had his sniper
graduation tale to share,
Carlos Hathcock had come
to bless all bullets built
for cerebral hemispheres
or those trained to trigger
on urban enemy snipers
annihilating intel or
stupidity or other life
forms in between

David Scott Pointer is the son of a piano playing bank robber who died when David was 3 years old. David later served in the Marine military police. In 2010, his poetry collection “Warhammer Piano Bar” had three poems nominated for The Pushcart Prize.