Charles Rammelkamp- A Poem

Benghazi

“Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!”

It was like a birdcall on the right,

a fierce, steady chirping

as if from birds hidden in trees.

Like the Northern Flicker, say,

and its kyeer, kyeer,

or the willet with its

bill-willie, pill-willet, pill-will-willet.

Or those other rightwingers with their

e-mail server, e-mail server, e-mail server,

a shrill, righteous call.

The rightwingers are an old species,

though they were conspicuously silent

when the real war criminals, the vultures

Rumsfeld and Cheney,

wreaked havoc throughout Mesopotamia.

“Vince Foster! Vince Foster Vince Foster!”

We hear them, as if hidden in bushes –

“Monica Lewinsky! Monica Lewinsky! Monica Lewinsky!” –

concealed behind sanctimonious indignation,

cloaked in smug resentment.

“Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!”