David Cranmer

The Inconsiderate

On a dirt road threading out of Port-au-Prince

A man discarded alongside the ditch

By thugs, former Tonton Macoute,

Laid flat with machete hacks

Bits of bone and brain fan out from the wound  

Blood seeping into the dry, dusty ground.

Our squad arrives securing the scene,

Interviewing witnesses and recording the crime

Two MPs stoop by the corpse, and strike a pose

A souvenir picture is snapped while nearby

Cordoned off with onlookers, a woman cries.

Étienne, our assigned interpreter, tells the GIs

The weeping woman is mother to the deceased

But they do not flinch—it is lost on them

How they are treating her son’s remains

Like the trophy hunters of some big game.

Years on, these soldiers would be dead too,

But that day in Haiti, it was going well for them.

David Cranmer is the editor of the BEAT to a PULP webzine and whose own body of work has appeared in such diverse publications as The Five-Two: Crime Poetry Weekly, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, LitReactor, Macmillan’s Criminal Element, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. He's a dedicated Whovian who enjoys jazz and backgammon. He can be found physically in scenic upstate New York where he lives with his wife and daughter, and he can be found virtually on Twitter @BEATtoaPULP.