A comment by Art Sun Hernandez inspired this one. Thank you, Sir.

... the revolving door
of history pulls me back
into its whirl, one

disaster after
another repeating in
dizzying assaults,

until my feet go
out from under me.  No more,
no more; make it stop --

but time marches on,
and so do the memories
swirling 'round my head:

JFK; Martin
Luther King; political
unrest; Vietnam;

the courage of the
first Black student going to
a white school flooded

by hoses of hate;
Americans held hostage;
assassination

attempts; presidents
and popes fall under the gun;
terrorist attacks

explode on foreign
shores and are flown into twin
towers, here at home;

the sounds of silence
of shock and awe are missiles
dropped over Baghdad;

protests;  headlines scream
the body count; anger rules;
celebrities call

the shots; money talks;
inflation; global warming;
who's minding the nukes???.

The revolving doors
of history spits me out
into a nightmare

that I've had before --
the same crap, different year --
got the tape, somewhere.

(c) 2007, Karla Dorman (4/11)