Letter to Grozny

It is not clear to me why
Russia wanted you so badly.

I cannot excuse
my country's
behavior, my own,

or explain why
we should give relief to
the victims of earthquakes,
bomb the
Milosevics and Saddam Husseins;

yet have so little,
no matter how
misguided and wrong
to offer you now.

We mourn our
airline crash victims,
congratulate ourselves about
our lopsided
"prosperity",
whine about so-called
barriers to
"free trade",
ask ourselves
(rhetorically?)
who wants to
win a million dollars.

Our half-hearted
diplomatic pressure on
Russia, your
executioner, our
ally, of course did not
save you.

What if military repression
was considered a trade barrier?

What if our diplomats
were muslims?

I'm sorry, Grozny.
Like my country,
I've done so little,
and understood less.