Gunpowder Like Graphite
by William Haas

Gunpowder
like graphite on fingertips

precedes
the rudderless bloodletting.

Ruthless
men rule

Cities
of corpses strung from

Electric
wires where blackbirds

Perch
before ripping the air like

Newsprint,
torn by trembling

Hands
black beneath the nails.

Words
are magic incantations;

Newspapers,
blankets or kindling.

Gunpowder Like Graphite – William Haas

William Haas lives in Portland, Oregon, and teaches at Western Oregon University. His writing has appeared in River Teeth, Fiddleblack, Dark Mountain, The Portland Occupier, and elsewhere.