Green Zone

In our world when a woman cries,
We beat each other up.

Then we spend the night moaning.
We pee off the balcony. We

Come in each other’s hair.
(The rarest of flowers is not as beautiful,

And come is more natural than hair gel.)
In our world when a man cries,

We call him Mary. We pick
Out the seeds of a pomegranate

For his pride. We exchange our
Blood for his. He says he loves us

Because we dare him to. We dare
Him because he shoves us.

In our world no one leaf can
Feel the sun’s reign, and it takes

The whole sky for the bird
To feel the tree properly. If someday

We want to leave this world,
We shall lie down still and close

Our eyes until one of us disappears.

Mark Yakich