Bucket of Blood

Where are the signs of death are they on the white house lawn? Is it in the manicured shrubs, the steel gate surrounding the property? It can’t be in the guardhouse you have to pass through to get in, that wouldn’t look good. No, the sign of death is flown into the United States in the form of coffins that are covered in American flags that you cannot photograph, imagine the symbol of America, democracy cannot be photographed.
For every grain of sand, microscopic sand in the wounds of each American soldier there is a heartbroken and wrecked family somewhere else. Maybe they get a photograph of what their son or daughter, or husband or mom’s day was like in Iraq. Maybe they got emails or photos. What they do get due to the greed of a certain individual in Washington is tremendous loss. Loss that ends a family name or insures that a child will never be able to look at a funeral again and not be reminded of his time sitting in that folding chair in front of a coffin, a tremendous loss for a child. A burning opportunity for a man who already has enough money to last a lifetime, can you imagine that obscenity? Where are the signs of death? They are littered across every ballot box, every counting machine. Do you have blood on your hands?

- Chris Mansel