Poetry / Operation Vendetta

Operation Vendetta

it started in September
the scent first wafted in
asbestos laden entrails
and the ashen taste of sin
a screaming sense of vertigo
explosions from within
years later they’re still finding
what would lie beneath the skin
an evil emanation
prevented questions being asked
and those would-be redeemers
now wish they had worn masks

and it became a duty
to seek out and destroy
ANY, one might deem a threat,
to what had been enjoyed
played and replayed images
smatter the t.v.
the television lets us know
that no one’s really free
and while morbid curiosity
holds us dazzled in lights
an unholy phosphorescence
hurls us backwards in our plight
but we still buy our fragrances
and we still “tune-in”
to the images that show us how
the people burned from deep within

but now we remember
the 5th of November
for that was the day when it ends
we realized the truth
when it was too late
and the gases were all wafting in

at first the aroma
seemed a bouquet
and the toxins were hard to detect
but soon we discovered
malodorous poison
accompanied our every breath
and what we had welcomed
as something benign
something inherently sweet
we soon realized
was, in essence, a lie
and the city began to reek

and now we remember
the 5th of November
because that’s what we’re programmed to know
and the scent wafting in
it is really our friend
and it helps our economy grow
and they say we’re not helping
refusing the rations
and digging them out of our skin
but I sometimes remember
that day in September,
the day the scent first drifted in

~P. Bloodsworth 2007

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