(Poem) The name of god is O by Susan Hawthorne

Ishtar on an Akkadian seal, Wikimedia Commons

The name of god is O

She was born in Baghdad

between the legs

of that fertile crescent

The O

The zero

invented here between the waters

of the Tigris and the Euphrates

The Gate of Ishtar shines

one hour’s drive from Baghdad

Paradise, Eden’s Garden,

the cradle …

all rising out of the sand

Towers fall

like the speakers

incomprehensible

leaping from the listing Babel

The O

The zero

The zero and the one

are returning to Baghdad

in the shape of bombs

Babylon fell

Babylon with its

women falling, falling …

We are Babylonians

The one

Our godhead

the horror occurring

in the city

of too many nights

The one dropping

out of the sky

birds dying mid-flight

piercing the fragile O

Disney duplicates

replace the old languages

with the one true tongue

American English slipping

between the fissures

The centre of the world

It was here they cry

now moved below the horizon

of the setting sun

Ishtar’s sky boat

setting far too low

The zero and the one

the binary base prevailing

here in Baghdad

it was ancient time

it was Ur time

It was base ten

and base sixty

one to ten

one to sixty

one hour and one minute

The Hanging Gardens

wilt and die

The flowerbeds of

the Sumerians poisoned

by those proclaiming

one world

one market

How many bombs

can you drop

from an unpiloted aircraft

in one hour?

What is the power

of one?

How many years of history

can you decimate?

How many civilians

can you count

without the zero?

There have been too many bombs dropping recently. This poem was written during the bombing of Iraq.

This poem was published in my book The Butterfly Effect (2005)

https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781876756567

(Meet ) Susan Hawthorne


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