In Nigeria

Twin bombs explode, 118 lives obliterated,

their bodies consumed by an inferno,

while a boy in Lowell, Massachusetts

creates a soda bomb, throws it at another boy,

a stranger he doesn't know,

some nameless face he can shrug off.

"Common," the authorities say.

"A phase.  Just a phase."

Maybe that's what Nigeria thought

before all the abductions 

and assaults became so prevalent.

It's a phase.

It will all go away.

Just wait.

©Kristina England

Twin Bombing kills scores in Nigeria

Boy, 11, burned by chemical bomb

Kristina England resides in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Her writing is published or forthcoming at Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Gargoyle, New Verse News, Poetry24, and other magazines. 

The Summer TV Schedule

There is a tendency by TV programmers

to show lots of repeats during summer.

Old films like ‘Gone with the Wind’,

comedies with the comic Lucille Ball,

films both of the first global conflict

- a war that was to end all wars -

and the second that very soon followed.

Documentaries of past achievement

and old newsreels are being provided

for the viewers’ interest and amusement.

A great emphasis is placed on the past.

At the moment they’re showing a report

which tells us of car bombs explosions,

in Baghdad, that killed 45 pilgrims

and a further 27 people in Shia areas.

I have seen several like this over the years

but I know that they can’t be fresh news;

they must be prior to May 1st 2003

when George W Bush assured us: 

“Mission accomplished.”

© Luigi Pagano

Iraq: Bombings in Baghdad and Nasiriya kill scores

Luigi Pagano is a contributor to Poetry24 and other websites. He has published three poetry collections the latest of which is Poetry On Tap (Available at Amazon.co.uk)