Hamoukar

by Ross Gillett

 

Located in what is now Syria, the city of Hamoukar, a centre of the obsidian trade, was destroyed around 3500 BC. Slings and thousands of ovoid clay bullets have been found. This may be evidence of the earliest urban warfare known in the Middle East ( joint Syrian-American expedition 1999-2010)

 

 

Hamoukar

                    there’s a new you 

            orange black clouds

                                    unfurling from the earth

                        dark blooms lined with fire

                                                            the incinerated marketplace

                                                doused cars

                                                                  triggered steam

                                                     thermal vents in the wreckage

                            shapes of ash and dust and vapor

                                                                the dead escape the superheated streets

 

 

Hamoukar

                     we found you

            infested with the handiwork of your enemy

                                    lethal seeds

                             a murderous clay grain

where are your trade routes now

                                           your obsidian history

                                                                    your craftsmen hunched over dark glass

                                    it’s oil instead of obsidian now

                        a market trade truly unprotected

                                                               frail stalls blown away

 

 

Hamoukar

                        obliterated city

            your people are old earth

                                    we who are good at turning people into earth salute you

                flag bearer for the wrecked civilisations

                                                with your excavated grid

                            your bewildered bones

                                       you taught history everything it knows

                                 people are dust

                                                     families exist to be torn apart

                                          no one lives anywhere

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