BACH IN IRAQ

I should have seen it coming

All the songs are machine guns now

It is not so far from rock, to rap

to rat-a-tat-tat

the beats getting harder and harder

and closer and closer together

Sitting at an Austin stop sign

cars filled with soldiers on each side

In a cross-fire of decibels, I think

“No one is playing Bach in Iraq”

as all three cars shudder and shake

I lift my hands in surrender

they keep firing