March 2003
(the US bombing of Iraq)

while I was riding to San Antonio
I watched a hawk
that looked like a hieroglyph
against a fingerpainted sky

at the same time
on the other side of the world
pyrotechnic flashes
ripped a hole in the heavens

while I was riding to San Antonio
trees fanned out across fields
on the edge of the road
like embroidered bird bones

at the same time
in a place we think of as faraway
explosions rattled walls
shook the bones of children

while I was riding to San Antonio
I saw trees gathered in a huddle
their legs a corral,
their leafy arms a canopy
for cattle and their young

at the same time
in a city built on sand
mothers huddled in corners
wondering
who was the real terrorist

when I sleep tonight
I will not dream of
hawks on the wing
grassy prairies and
pastoral tranquility

Deborah Hunter

Deborah J. Hunter is a Tulsa, Oklahoma poet, playwright, director, essayist, actor, teaching artist, and social justice activist. A descendant of 1921 Tulsa Massacre survivors, she was honored to receive a 2020 Greenwood Art Project grant for her original play, Porches, set during the years following that Tulsa tragedy and staged during the 2021 Centennial remembrance. She received a 2024 Artists Creative Fund Grant, 2021 Dan Allen Center for Social Justice Award, 2018 Women of the Year Pinnacle Award and was a 2013 Oklahoma Poet Laureate finalist. Her poetry has been published in literary journals, magazines, anthologies and other printed media. She is mostly known for her soul-filled spoken word performances. She has received awards as a staunch advocate and educator on issues pertaining to mental health and homelessness. Hunter’s chapter, “Violence and the Homeless Population: Perpetrators or Victims?” appears in the academic series, Violence and Abuse in Society: Understanding a Global Crisis. She retired from the behavioral health field and continues writing, educating, and performing.