From the Fishouse

“In a visit to Auschwitz,
Bush sets out to repair
ties strained by Iraq War.”
—CNN, June 1, 2003

Perhaps.
Perhaps something
Has happened. Perhaps

The ashes
Descended, ringed

The man and woman posing
For Press, fingers just
Touching

Oven Doors,
Positioning a fresh cut

Rose
On the silenced
Iron.

Perhaps the bone hewn
Stones that sleep (but do not

Sleep) beneath
Those tracks cracked
Under his executive

Walk, the air with a grayed
Unfolding eye finally closed

Down his throat—the fugue
Of 6,000,000
Dead

Fell
Through his lung.

And if he saw
The words carved
In the night-

shelves: “Ich bin,
Ich bin!”— If

The sky began
To flatten
him. Later,

In the hotel bed, he takes
Off his shoes, sees

The smooth round bone
Chip wedged in the dark
Sole, prizes it out—

It is there in his palm,
Whispering, What

Have you done? What
Have you
Done?