It’s sometimes valuable from a military standpoint to be able to engage in deception.
Dick Cheney
TRANSLATIONS PART
predawn vertical insertion for invasion
unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life for killing
“You always write it’s bombing, bombing, bombing. It’s not bombing, it’s air support.”
target servicing for putting artillery fire on target
permanent pre-hostility for peace
In 1947 the Department of War was renamed the Department of Defense because when the
war is “over” it’s difficult to ask for an increase in the war budget.
damage limitation for offensive strikes
soft targets for cities where people live
kinetic energy penetrators for bullets
violence processing for combat
national security has no definition and therefore cannot be translated.
KNOW YOUR TARGET
remove any trace of the color red
show soldiers with chin beards rather than clean-shaven faces
don’t use thought bubbles; they’re confusing
add bananas to a bowl of fruit
keep in mind that the target is suspicious
and will look for hidden unfavorable meanings
insure that only one interpretation,
the intended one, can be given each sentence.
do not leave any thoughts for the target to fill in
caption everything
NATURE PART
there are leaves in leaflets
updrafts and down drafts
follow the general direction of the wind
constant pull of gravity
modified wing pods
detaching the fins
winds, tides, currents
sounds projected over water
low-lying coastal plains
William Carlos Williams compares a young housewife to a fallen leaf
and then runs her over
but what about the leaflet?
a beehive is direct fire with steel dart fleshettes
helicopter birds in the elephant grass
my green eye sees at night, laying chilly for a mad minute
where are the white mice this time?
At ten a.m. the young leaflet
moves about in updrafts and down drafts behind
the walls of her target-rich environment.
I pass solitary in my car.