VIRTUAL SIEGE

We've come to know the foreign war is far
from distant now.  Dunes and palms are scenery
no more. In fact, the war is where we are.

The action's live, in time that's real. We're free
to turn it off or on, to turn away
from convoys, tanks, humvees, artillery.

So it's midnight here, there plus eight, it's day.
We watch the insubstantial columns rise
above the skyline: smoke that billows gray.

And here it's dusk, and there, we see night skies
ablaze. The military experts trace
the course on maps, their faces lined and wise.

The breaking news is never commonplace:
we scan the screen to find just one loved face.

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