Isabella Sophie Turcinovic

Dirge

To: Army Public School, dirt-colored walls cultivating futures.
From: the TTP, postcards of North Waziristan presumed bloodshed.

To: Peshawar, sister-city of Kabul.
Medieval city, Oxford University, Forbidden Palace.

Oldest breathing city of South Asia.
frontier city, crossroads of Central and South.
Shale and limestone streaks of the Khyber Pass.

Lugged by seven carriers, one hundred thirty-two lives
crammed into explosives and bullets, mail sacks dripping
final hiccups of air. Student-paid postage. 

Dust-wrapped school shoes, herded by Pakistani combat boots
past present culture infused with militancy.
Dissolved in blood: rust-covered mud, crusting.

Target the civilian army, rumpled contours
of forest green sweaters juxtaposed to camo.
ouroboros closing a line into cycles
of increasing violence/short-term gain/violence/

How much is necessary to rewrite collective opinion?
Daggers shot by glassy-eyed adolescents, how long to
fly the flags at half-mast.