A SACK

A SACK

A SACK

When Peter wakes, it is night again.
Joshua has returned. There’s a radio
& a full sack of barley
on the floor. Josh says he found both
in a house where there’d been fighting.
He has walked & walked.
He has not found his wives.
Peter hops towards the barley sack.
It is very dark where it is on the floor.
He finds the end that’s open
& begins, quietly, to chew.
The radio is playing news:
Peter hears John Howard’s
unexcited voice announce:
the FA eighteen Hornets
have returned to Darwin,
There will be parades
in the Australian cities . . .
for those returned
from the Iraq War.

It is May fifteen, two thousand & three,
Joshua says.
He continues more softly, the War has ended,
but these streets
are occupied by people warring
for the food & water to live on,
or for things to trade,
or sell, for profit.
Around five point three million people
lived in Baghdad, before the war. Now, who knows?
Is it possible
to find fifteen people – among so many –
where it is dangerous to move about on foot;
no public transport, or City Hall,
gangs of shooters, & looters,
& a lot of city to comb. Where might his wives
have gone? Where could they go?
He is determined
to keep trying to find them.
Peter in a corner is digesting barley
& pondering how he
might get to Baghdad University.
Joshua begins to build a fire, to boil some water
for drinking, & later, to cook . . .