Poem IV · The Bill of Sale

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By bhi

Tue, 06 Oct 2026
  • 801 reads
5 comments
 

Poem IV · the one who supplies and profits

Bill of Sale

The bystander world: the ones who look away in Poem III, and what they do with their hands while they look away. They sell.

PRINTED margin
SELLER: the exporting State Party.   BUYER: whoever pays.  we paid. we were not asked.
TERMS: risk assessed. Risk found not overriding. Export authorised.  how much risk is a child?
ITEM 1: drones, capabilities substantially enhanced. Range: far beyond front lines.  past the line. to the market. to the school.
ITEM 2: shells, by the crate. Re-ordered. Volume up on the last five years.  you counted crates. we counted craters.
ROUTING: a transnational chain of networks spanning several countries, via Chad, southeastern Libya, Bosaso.  a chain. yes. we wore it.
ITEM 3: deterrent, maintained, $3,768 a second, into the next century.  my son's whole life, prepaid.
ITEM 4: one Industrial Promotion Hall, 1915, local products displayed and sold. Delivered 8:15.  girders only. the shadow on the step is the receipt.
CARBON COPY: com / plic / it: folded together. Seller's copy. Buyer's copy.  and the third copy, pressed into us.
END USER: [commercially sensitive] i  am the end user. i was used. i was ended.
TOTAL: $2,887,000,000,000. Eleventh year running. PAID BY: civilians.  paying the price. in instalments. by the head.
E.&O.E.  we were the errors. we are the omissions.

No one is issued the zero. It was never yours to give. It is not yours to sell.

Certificate 15
Poem
Opinion

Comments

Submitted by Di_Hard on

This powerful, terrible poem from bhi is Pick of the Day. Please do share if you can

please change the image if you want to; it is from here :
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cartridges_comparison.jpg

 

Submitted by bhi on

Thank you for the cherries.

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

Really hard-hitting, and so very true.

Submitted by airyfairy on

This brilliant and brutal piece is our Poem of the Week. Congratulations!

Submitted by bhi on

Thank you for picking this piece - part of a series - as poem of the week. Thank you.