The US did this
The US did this
The tragedy of Afghanistan
Used the people of Afghanistan
as collateral damage
in their Cold War
against the Russians
The US did this
The pain of a poet
writing about his father
with Alzheimers
Compare the pain
of being born in
a country of Imperialism
A country of
death and destruction
Crisscrossing the world
like an all-powerful global tornado
creating a wide path
of death and destruction
The poet
trying and failing
to get his father
with Alzheimers
to use the toilet
The woman born
in the USA
trying and failing
to get her country
to respect human rights
to give up global hegemony
to give up militarism, war
and nuclear weapons
Watching Afghans trying
to escape the Taliban
created by the US
to attack the Russians
The pain becomes anger
shouting at the television
The US did this
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Author: Pamela Collett
I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. I have a B.A. from Stanford University and a M.Sc. from Cornell University. I have lived and worked in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, California as well as in Washington, DC. Outside the United States, I lived and worked in Venezuela, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Uganda, Somalia and Kenya. I currently live in Canberra, Australia.
I edited three books: Bold Plum: with the Guerillas in China's War against Japan by Hsiao Li Lindsay; Peace and Milk: Scenes of Northern Somalia by James Lindsay and Fatima Jibrell; and Solo vale si piensas rápido by Mehedy Lopez, a book of poetry in Spanish. In 2016, I published a book of my poetry and drawings, Silence Spoken.
I have taught communication skills, English as a second language, and English for journalists (in Beijing, China) at university and secondary school levels. I was a features writer for the Daily Journal, (Caracas, Venezuela), and The Chronicle of Higher Education. I am a member of the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Writers Centre, active in a writers’ group and a contributor to poetry readings, That Poetry Thing, in Canberra, Australia.
View all posts by Pamela Collett
Tracking the Human: nobody's a long time 
Thanks to George Bush Margot Smith510-486-8010Margots999@aol.com
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Oh, Pamela,
Yes. And yes again. What we are witnessing is such an epic failure… that – in so many ways – could have been otherwise, except for all of which you so powerfully write.
And it’s people’s lives.
And you write not as someone who stands by but who gets stuck in, puts hands and heart and all you have where your mouth is, and you take action. I know you were there, helping. Your poem is powerful. Thank you for giving voice to what many people are feeling.
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