Well, I heard about the camels yesterday.
The left pundits told me they were of an irredeemable tribe,
of derailed danger. They say—
let your fear evaporate you. Subscribe
to our maxim of unbridled terror.
Then the right pundits collared the airwaves—
the camels are a scapegoat. Trojan horses.
Look, you don’t need to be saved.
C’mon, this should not derail you from your course.
Actually, confront the threat which does not exist!
So many of them went to Dallas in long caravans knifing
Oklahoma.
(that’s where they said the camels were, Dallas)
And they stood there without protection. Chests puffed,
Arms sunburnt.
Many of us—but some of them—sequestered in houses,
millions of fathoms from Dallas.
The camels were coming, the voices of fifty-year old women
warned me alongside the river.
But no verified vestige sprung from the webs.
Of course, I do not travel toward damage. So why would they drift to Dallas?
Truth coronates the brave, in the end, or so the right
pundits asserted.
The left pundits whispered,
truth favored the silent.
I will not engage in battles regarding truth.
The televisions radiated blood. Dallas was red and I-35
defecated itself tan and brown and sore with proverbs
of
bestow caution unto those who you value most.
Social media pages said
THERE IS NO BLOOD IN DALLAS
DALLAS: SAFE. STRONG. HOLY.
My cousin in Fort Worth just wasn’t quite sure.
And rattling on the newspaper tomorrow,
HORRIFIC CARNAGE IN TEXAS
Camels terrorize protestors and deniers
But mostly, resonating on the streets of Anywhere Else, United States,
fear
Isn’t it terrible? says the sixty-year old woman.
I counter.
We must never allow the avoidable to deliver us sorrow.