Boghos Artinian’s most recent poem to appear here was The Performance (August 2014).

The Rape of Kessab
By Boghos Artinian

The telephones were still working
the morning after Kessab
was overrun by terrorists
marauding from the Turkish side.
The young had been rescued at night
and were in Latakia.
Many old men and women
couldn’t make it and stayed home.
The rescued ones called
to see if their loved ones would answer.
But it was the terrorists
who answered all the calls.
They said they were resting,
enjoying the food left behind.
When asked to pass the telephones
to the beloved family members
the answers, invariably, were:
Allahu Akbar.
The message:
We have killed them in His name.