deteriorating relationships

The service’s impressive performance – a war
with global radical Islam makes way for the new
persistence of the Algerian connection – the New Deal
a half century later, a mainland they never knew, dismantling
formal barriers to racial equality, a bomb
on the stretch of a railroad – great masses
of the empire’s grandchildren refuse what is offered
the banking industry to corn producers  – a deteriorating
relationship between Jews and Muslims – deeper wellsprings
of resistance to the king, much-caricatured
American lobbying “free-for-all” – the government
simply wastes this complicated history

Derived from Foreign Affairs articles America in Decay and The Algerian Legacy

Enters Divided

In its own right –
shook with unrest
the army’s deployments –
their livelihoods – people,
Islamists, and moderates
alike – divided.
State and federal agencies
against
political activists and dissenters –
three different pots
on the stove.

Derived from Foreign Affairs articles: ISIS Enters Egypt and A Casa Divided.