Afghan War Rugs

—after an exhibit at the British Museum

Bark, twigs, roots, for dye. Cotton 
pulled pale from the boll. Or fiber spun
from wool and silken filament.
Pictured in the cloth: animals 
brought down by spears or bows. 

In Baluch rugs, among geometric 
flowers, horses, & peacocks, 
tanks cross fields filled with grenades, 
helicopters, Kalashnikovs.

And when there’s ruin, because always
there’s ruin, only some can be undone. 
Weavers must steady the fabric, assess 
the destruction, loosen the bindings slowly, 
lift each thread from the next, unknotting 

row by row. It takes time to tease out
damaged strands, to prevent the woven 
testimony from collapsing, leaving 
only tattered remnants in one’s hands.

Susana H. Case’s most recent collection is If This Isn't Love, Broadstone Books. She is co-editor with Margo Taft Stever of I Wanna Be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe, Milk & Cake Press & with Margo Taft Stever & Sandy Yannone of Unsinkable: Poems Inspired by the Titanic, Salmon Poetry.