Three Terribly True Ugly Vignettes About War
Bill Engleson
- As is my custom,
I lollygag in bed in the morning,
listen to the radio.
Today, Canada allows that it might bomb Syria,
with the permission of the Assad criminal government, of course.
It all depends on with whom you are in bed, I suppose.
And when.
2. Sousse.
A swim on the Tunisian beach,
the horizon, just beyond reach,
a few grains of sand away from safety,
the beach, the gun, the parasol, the student;
It is beyond my ken
to grasp the hatred, the devotion;
Will it serve some higher purpose?
Death serves only one purpose:
Itself.
Death does not mesmerize me;
I am not afraid, not concerned.
Death is beyond our control,
Save those little daily details one manages to prolong life;
Eat well. Get enough sleep. Limit carcinogens.
Stay off the beaches at Sousse.
3. Like a sewer, flowing toxically to the sea, war is a funnel of effluent.
It flows and ebbs, refluent in its constancy.
War is a sewer; the gunpowder and rotting corpse-odors of war linger on,
linger on in memory, cling to the shrapnel hearts of children, their children.
War, the course of sewage within it, is constant.
