The name of god is O
Susan Hawthorne

The name of god is O
She was born in Baghdad
between the legs
of that fertile crescent

The O
The zero
invented here between the waters
of the Tigris and the Euphrates

The Gate of Ishtar shines
one hour’s drive from Baghdad
Paradise, Eden’s Garden,
the cradle …
all rising out of the sand

Towers fall
like the speakers
incomprehensible
leaping from the listing Babel

The O
The zero
The zero and the one
are returning to Baghdad
in the shape of bombs

Babylon fell
Babylon with its
women falling, falling …
We are Babylonians

The one
Our godhead
the horror occurring
in the city
of too many nights

The one dropping
out of the sky
birds dying mid-flight
piercing the fragile O

Disney duplicates
replace the old languages
with the one true tongue
American English slipping
between the fissures

The centre of the world
It was here, they cry
now moved below the horizon
of the setting sun
Ishtar’s sky boat
setting far too low

The zero and the one
the binary base prevailing
here in Baghdad
it was ancient time
it was Ur time

It was base ten
and base sixty
one to ten
one to sixty
one hour and one minute

The Hanging Gardens
wilt and die
The flowerbeds of
the Babylonians poisoned
by those proclaiming
one world
one market

How many bombs
can you drop
from an unpiloted aircraft
in one hour?
What is the power
of one?

How many years of history
can you decimate?
How many civilians
can you count
without the zero?

Susan Hawthorne is the author of two collections of poetry Bird (1999) and The Butterfly Effect (2005), a novel, The Falling Woman (1992) and two works of non-fiction Wild Politics (2002) and The Spinifex Quiz Book (1993). Several of her books have been selected as the year’s best books.

From: The Butterfly Effect
pp 231-233

Website: http://www.spinifexpress.com.au