DRONES

Russia and Ukraine: The Hum Above

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Author Note:

This was the first poem I ever posted on Substack. I was reminded of yesterday, four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

The thought of drone warfare still terrifies me.

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DRONES

Silencing the heart, the low closing hum.
Men drop in rows beneath the baring shrub.
Panicked shovelling of dirt, fear tearing off the nails;
concealing any hint of shirt or exposed warm entrails.
The hum turns to screaming, hordes of hunting bees
circling and searching, a warmth between my knees.
The screams now a whistle; an armored bird finds its prey.
Abandon shrub and thistle! Bodies scatter in the fray.
Feet tangle in the violence, tripped by the steely eyes,
the beat of terror’s drum now silent, for it smiles its lead teeth—
and dives.

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