Three (anti)war poems penned on the first Ash Wednesday of World War Three

 

Three (anti)war poems

penned on the first 

Ash Wednesday 

of World War Three

1.

I am old enough to remember 

two invasions of Iraq 

1991 & 2003 under two different Bushes 

to be a true peacenik in America

is for nobody to ever have your back

peaceniks 

forever get   

called a coward

a traitor 

a sissy

a punk 

so when I dunk on this topic 

let me clear 

this is not out of fear

I claim no moral position 

not America number one

nor hippy with flowers in a gun 

not making memes of president Zalenskyy

none of this is any fun 

it’s only been a week but I have been floored

by liberals cheering for war

first we saw it on the cable news

commentators drooling like they drunk on booze

come on Biden what you gonna do

liberals cheering for war

maybe liberals cheering for war

never had the FBI come knocking on their door

don’t have neighbors phoning them death threats

for calling out local racists or January 6th attackers

or you know just regular Americans always bragging

about every kind of weapon they own 

doomsday preppers

soldiers of fortune 

trigger-happy ex-cops 

for every man is

his own killing machine

am I the only one triggered by people

in this right-wing fever dream 

I am just one sleepless woke hippy 

trying to stay on the beam

of not drinking the cocktail of revenge

the way you post pictures of civilian soldiers

then tell me you are not just another

liberal cheering for war 

liberals cheering for war

deny there were ever racists in Ukraine

okay then we can also deny that the 

former President’s boy ever did cocaine

but really this poem has nothing to do with blame

yet rather questioning every aspect of this 

ratcheted-up delirious war game 

not cheering for war is also 

not cheering for Putin

some still remember

better red than dead 

or was it dead than red

re-runs of the Day After Tomorrow 

dancing in your head

some of us remember this tape from the 1980s

nuclear bombs would send us all to Hades

but some of you thought the cold war had faded

until we woke up one February day

to learn about tanks & troops & 

again those nukes

autocrats & heroes & kooks 

high time I remember how to pray

2. 

remember how to read multiple sources

not just re-post that old silly picture

of a shirtless dictator who likes to ride horses 

not bragging that the one side of any conflict is

automatically right yet neither diminishing those

who hide in a basement shelter night after night

every human has blood that courses through her veins

every parent of soldiers dead remembers their names

listening to the protesters resisting arrest in the streets of Moscow

listening to a pacifist from Kyiv adding perspective on Democracy Now

mandatory conscription for every man 

don’t worry somebody watching from home

will figure out a way to tell you this

was always part of God’s plan 

understanding why some right-wingers 

who were cheering for Russia are suddenly silent

scratching my head at the left-wingers 

who are tongue-tied to call-out or condemn Russia

everything in life 

is not a hot-take on Twitter 

I know after Covid how much we like 

to sit at our screens & fritter 

But maybe get up for a walk 

Call your mom

Plan a night out dancing

Even if you need to call a babysitter 

don’t put words in my mouth I am not about 

to “blame NATO” but if sensible

foreign-policy wonks with decades of study are saying that 

expanding a military alliance in a time of peace has now 

brought the entire planet to its atomic knees maybe 

we should pause before posting that romantic screed

about a war for democracy itself 

I know you’ve seen that in your feed

war-profiteers & weapons manufacturers 

have something to do with how this thing

magically went from 12 to 30 look 

we are talking about war it is always dirty 

& if the cold war was really over 

why were countries joining in

1999 or 2004 or 2009 or 2017 

& I bet you couldn’t name them all 

if it were on a quiz so 

you better get on Google to start looking 

everyone who left Russia is grateful 

for that flight they were prescient in booking 

see people rarely want to ask why we even have armies

missiles tanks warships military aircraft rockets bombs

say out loud the part about the profits for

Boeing Raytheon or Lockheed Martin

who wants to ask why we even have war

a product where patriarchy meets anxiety in the marketplace of greed

food & housing & clean air & fresh drinking water

even love & art & music these are what we need

why we really need countries 

with all these borders

what kind of scarcity brain 

leads to all these hoarders

technology used to travel 

to distant planets 

or murder absolutely everything even 

if that is not how you planned it

don’t even get me started with

all the End Times branding

if there is an apocalypse fever 

the churches they fanned it 

3.

War is a special

booze for little 

girls or boys 

to learn how to get

high first with sticks

then plastic guns

then video games 

war is supposedly 

a selfless sacrifice to 

give your 

life meaning 

like Jesus but better 

so when the entire

globe is quickly 

careening past the

climate change

point of no return

& it is clear the 

billionaires never

really gave a shit

about ending poverty

or pollution 

admit that war

is a kind of solution

a distraction of action

from all the other inaction

don’t take too much

from this poetic mess

I am just a morning 

writer spitting this desperate

plea decidedly lost 

from membership in 

any faction