as stars in a sky
purified of smoke

everyone wealthy
with constellations

teaching the alphabet
of civilization

every child’s
mastered words

obliterating the primal
inquiry

to teach
a vocabulary of war

is old hat
the rubble of history

ruptures on roads
of reparation

telling ourselves
that signs of peace

are constellations
organizing the universe

into bulls and bears
dippers and swords

where are the children
in configurations

we make our words
like gods

wielding benign
indifference

Lisa Krueger is a poet and psychologist in Los Angeles. Her poems and essays have appeared in various journals and with Red Hen Press.