Zen?

by Ryan Stovall

If a coffee cup,
       a heavy, oversized, metal travel mug,

is dropped,
       bounces between several pairs of sturdy boots,

slides out the open door
       of an American helicopter

hovering above
       the dusty streets of Quetta,

a coffee-spewing chrome meteor
       gathering a thousand feet of speed,

spinning shining down through sunlight
       filling desert morning air

to finally strike a child
       on a bicycle,

splitting her head like a dark haired pumpkin
       hit by an axe,

does it make a sound
       in America?

Ryan Stovall is a former adventurer, world traveler, and Green Beret. His work recently won the Wright Award from Line of Advance, was runner up in Proud to Be’s annual poetry contest, and has appeared in or is forthcoming from Rosebud, Geometry, The Cape Rock, Here Comes Everyone, and others. Ryan lives with his family near Bangor, Maine.