The Gunslinger

(For Cindy Sheehan)
© 12 August 2005, The Griot Poet

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Stephen King

And, her face was grim.
Fixing her chin like flint,
Her silent vigil
Appealing to tens,
Then hundreds, then thousands…

Sitting in a lawn chair
Can cause such despair
To one who birthed war
And, ironically afterbirth
Aborted the lives of many.

Is it any wonder?
He sends lackeys
To answer her questions
While KBR, Halliburton
And Carlyle
Plunder
With the thunder
Of “shock and awe”
And the "iron triangle"
Of the military-religious-industrial
Complex?

Answer her questions!
She is the mother of loss, Casey, every mother’s son.
She has not crossed nor betrayed patriotism.
Those who suggest it with derision have no comparative, equivalent experience.

His unscripted comments are vexed,
Only mentioning her name
And taking flight in Marine One
For her guns are more lethal than his:
Birthed from a mother's burning love
For one she knew nine month's longer
Than even her son's best friend.

Yes, Stephen King:

"The man in black fled across the desert," to off-site meetings, to the White House "and the gunslinger [still] followed" him.