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Who will come to save me now?

Barry North
Barry North

(Written during the first Gulf War)

  • When did I become
  • so hardened to human suffering?
  • Who is this monster I do not recognize,
  • who can sit in front of a T.V.
  • watching a war
  • as though it were a mini-series?
  • Who taught me this trick
  • of accepting the destruction of 200,000 people
  • in the blinking of an eye?
  • When did I learn to look at babies —
  • with bloated stomachs,
  • crawling with flies,
  • starving to death in countries
  • with names I cannot pronounce —
  • as though they have nothing to do with me?
  • Who is this creature I cannot abide:
  • who would sooner part with his humanity
  • than with his cash;
  • who can dismiss all of the homeless
  • with a backward flick of the wrist —
  • the way Pontius Pilate dismissed a barefooted rebel
  • dressed in rags —
  • like so much rubbish,
  • too despicable to be touched
  • with his clean Roman hands.

Barry W. North is a 68-year-old retired refrigeration mechanic. Since his retirement in 2007, he has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize, won the 2010 A. E. Coppard Prize for Fiction, and, more recently, won Honorable Mention in the 2011 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Paterson Literary Review, Slipstream, The Dos Passos Review, and other journals. He has published two chapbooks. Along the Highway, a fiction chapbook, was published by White Eagle Coffee Store Press in 2010, and his first chapbook of poems, Terminally Human, was published in 2013 by Finishing Line Press. For more information visit his website: barrynorth.org

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Barry North
Barry North

(Written during the first Gulf War)

  • When did I become
  • so hardened to human suffering?
  • Who is this monster I do not recognize,
  • who can sit in front of a T.V.
  • watching a war
  • as though it were a mini-series?
  • Who taught me this trick
  • of accepting the destruction of 200,000 people
  • in the blinking of an eye?
  • When did I learn to look at babies —
  • with bloated stomachs,
  • crawling with flies,
  • starving to death in countries
  • with names I cannot pronounce —
  • as though they have nothing to do with me?
  • Who is this creature I cannot abide:
  • who would sooner part with his humanity
  • than with his cash;
  • who can dismiss all of the homeless
  • with a backward flick of the wrist —
  • the way Pontius Pilate dismissed a barefooted rebel
  • dressed in rags —
  • like so much rubbish,
  • too despicable to be touched
  • with his clean Roman hands.

Barry W. North is a 68-year-old retired refrigeration mechanic. Since his retirement in 2007, he has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize, won the 2010 A. E. Coppard Prize for Fiction, and, more recently, won Honorable Mention in the 2011 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Paterson Literary Review, Slipstream, The Dos Passos Review, and other journals. He has published two chapbooks. Along the Highway, a fiction chapbook, was published by White Eagle Coffee Store Press in 2010, and his first chapbook of poems, Terminally Human, was published in 2013 by Finishing Line Press. For more information visit his website: barrynorth.org

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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