IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY - Peace Poetry by Emily Ann Easton

tighten the tourniquet
suffocating my fingertips
let the blood run stiff
through my blue veins
puncture wounds of medicine
homemade remedies
of love and lives lost
tears fall down my cheeks
as i see the pain melt away
in aquamarine sheets
of turquoise flames
this is better
than living
with the pains
the sickness in my stomach
when i wake up in the morning
and fall asleep at night
squeeze the skin tight
around my frame
as my cheekbones
protrude from my face
cutting through the flesh
this is no life
in foreign times of darkness
off in pale deserts
of destruction
lost and alone
in camouflage
a warrior told me
i would live forever
with his bible turned upside down
and his accent
twisting in the air
a twang of Texas barbeque
and false homeland security
long live the king
with his pitch fork
as he dances around the fire
holding hands
with the devil
in the name of democracy