there were a lot of soldiers and there were men dressed up as heads on plates with rolling eyes and lolling tongues waiting to be eaten and there were jet fighters and there were killers and weeping or bleeding athletes and executions and there was broken glass and still hurricane eaten buildings and cars exploding into flame for sport or not for sport from bombs and officers mourning their dead and anti-semitic or anorexic celebrity d.u.i. mugshots and a president trying to hand back a crying baby and grimacing like a deranged chimpanzee but that is not fair to the chimpanzee

what was beautiful besides the obvious--beyonce aglitter gisele strutting but serene in feathers bikini and tartan boots the tour de france riders among sunflowers baby suri and baby shiloh?

what was beautiful? the iraqui boy in overalls shaking hands with an american soldier the giant in china seated doll-like stiff-legged and carefully groomed in front of her giant house while a woman stared at her in shock the eyes of the french woman with the facial transplant a new york skyline with the towers phantoms of light colored pools of salt a crater on mars

what else was beautiful?—the animals that wild horse storm rapa das bestas endangered harp seal pups a white dog prancing hair like a thousand braids three walruses reclining on their backs six panda cubs a sad and ever lonely rabbit bred to be the size of a child and even the bull caught in mid air somersault his horns stuck in the earth about to die