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The Web Poetry Corner - Mango Tree - WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

by

Mango Tree

What is it about war that disturbs me so much?
Is it knowing that innocent citizens may perish
by unknown weapons that have no particular
name implanted on their hard cases?
Is it the possibility that I may be one of them someday?
Is it knowing that my government,
the organization that represents my political interests
makes decisions that leave me out of the decision process?
Or, is it because I know that I alone cannot influence the people in power
Or, that I fear I will be labeled an anarchist, a person that is not patriotic,
worse yet, a peacenik?

Or, is it the memories of Fred Gruber,
my high school buddy, born five days after me,
who went down in a fiery crash in a Huey in ‘Nam
the same day, December 1, 1968,
that on leave before my tour to ‘Nam I injured
my knee which led to Letterman Hospital in
San Francisco instead of the rice fields of ‘Nam?
Damn ‘Nam, so many young Americans, Vietnamese,
French, Australians, Koreans, Chinese, and more,
men, women, who fell next to someone,
tight as a string before it snaps, shot in the head
a sad, sad, lonely way to die, lying quietly
"der springt noch auf," (patient flowers into death now)
dark, filthy blood eventually drying on their corpse

Or, is it the battering of the drums as soldiers march
down the avenues of the great cities, the military garrisons,
On they march; through fields, swamps, upon sand,
the rocks of invisible political boundaries,
lonely men and women hungry, scared, confused, tired
marching where birds wander about scourging for food
where the beauty of the landscapes have been ravaged
corpses left in the paddy, or dead on a high hill,
all the false flags of bravery and ignorance,
the plans made by leaders in safety zones, noncombatants
hollow leaders with even shallower intentions sit far, far away
Or, worse yet, is it knowing that highly trained faceless, sky pilots
drop payloads on targets, cities, humans, with smart, surgical bombs that have been paid for by me, you, the taxpayers--payloads that murder mothers, children, fathers, siblings
Or, is it that I am tired of hearing the same rhetoric
by the same Republicans and the same Democrats of America
the leaders of a free society, liberty and truth for all
and, what is MANIFEST DESTINY, whose and what destiny?
and why does America need Homeland Security?

What is it about war and the poverty, hunger and chaos that follows it that disturbs me so much?

NEXT?
Why don't you look at BLESSINGS FROM THE MAN IN THE MOON (Sensual)
by: Delores Senkbeil
from: Sheboygan, WI, US

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