Earplugs

By Franny French

Where did I get these earplugs
that are so exactly
the shape of bombs dropped
from airplanes I feel I am
violating my code of pacifism
just by putting them in my ears?

I can feel my shore of forehead shrinking
just as it has all my life
when I imagine bombs going off.
Does anyone understand
what makes us
do this to each other? Is it just
the playing at the misery of God humans do?

Because if there is a god
then he or she is certainly miserable
and likes to create misery in her or his
own image. And anyone who doesn’t see
this has got to be cracked in the head.

But it hardly matters
if there is or is not a god.
We may have invented one
in order to create
misery in our own miserable image.

All this from earplugs.
But you can get your worry cheap these days.
Just turn on the radio or the television news
and count how long it takes
for them to drop the words "bombing"
and "explosion." You may be hearing
the words just then, right
as they’re happening.
Even a god would have to do that
all day long
and still have trouble
keeping up.