the window, at the moment of flame

by alicia ostriker

and all this while I have been playing with toys
a toy superhighway a toy automobile a house of blocks

and all this while far off in other lands
thousands and thousands, millions and millions

you know — you see the pictures
women carrying bony infants

men sobbing over graves
buildings sculpted by explosion —

earth wasted bare and rotten
and all this while I have been shopping, I have

been let us say free
and do they hate me for it

do they hate me