Who would think of a drone as a subject for a poem? Bagel Bard Dennis Daly fits the bill. Daly is the author of several poetry collections, as well as a book of translation. He has an eclectic history as a journalist, union organizer, and a troublemaker.

Drone

Dennis Daly.

Pick up one per cent milk, pull over
On the way home, quell bloody anger,
A battlefield quickened, a hovering
Of soldiers in death’s clinch, shift ending

Neatly. Remember to gas up the car.
The hellfire left its blackened scar.
The house gone. His tools must have melted.
Those boys too. But who can be faulted?

Everything narrowed down to his seed.
And given the horror, all agreed.
Another child hidden behind the truck,
Panicked, paralyzed by the havoc,

The explosion, the god-awful strike.
Yet targeted well, so businesslike.
The new pilot fiddles the controls.
I’ve ordered drinks in one of hell’s holes.

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