Racheline Maltese

AMERICA

doesn’t feel safe; it feels
like Starship Troopers

and keeps inducing that same
sort of nervous hysterical

laughter as that film does.
It’s the sound of helicopters

and mothers on the radio
listing off their sons

in the military and asking
for Walk Like an Egyptian

because it’s the one stationed
in Iraq’s favorite song.

—from Rattle #24, Winter 2005