Call it “The Crisis,”
but which one do you mean?

the crisis here or the crisis there?
Though there is no steadfast distinction;

here is there and there is here, except
in the number of casualties; imperialism

raises its syphilitic head everywhere,
the stinking climate is everywhere;

we’re all on the same wildly spinning
planet, though it’s far hotter there

then here; hotter in every way, with
nearly everything rising except the static

stock market, barrels of oil roiling across
seas of blood, war lords in the capitals,

citizens in the streets,
whose side are you on now?