Poetry

Alisdare Hickson photo

By

Ashby McGowan

Examining the Evidence for War

Speaker 1 (aggressive)                  Speaker 2 (a bit submissive)

Examining the evidence for war.          Looking for purity amongst my fellow humans.

Contradictory evidence is,                       …………

Breaking up my,                                       Breaking up my

Confidence.                                             ………….

………….                                                      Breaking up my,

Shreds of confidence                              Shreds of Evidence

…………….                                                   Confidence

Confidence!                                            ………….

……………..                                                 We need ……..

I need certainty                                      …………..

…………..                                                   Not doubts and questions

Questions are just…                               …………….

……………….                                              Too hard to deal with.

The enemy are,                                      The enemy are,

Much too tall                                         Much too small

………….                                                   And, much too tall

Have arguments that cannot face…       ………….

………………                                              The light of day

To God I pray…                                      ………….

……………..                                               Take them all away

Send weapons…                                    …………..

…………….                                                Without delay

There must be no…                               ………………

………………..                                            Disagreement

Disturbance                                           ……………

………………                                             There must be no…

Views that,                                            …………..

Drift away                                             Drift away,

…………….                                               From what is acceptable,

Correct                                                  ………….

……………                                               To me and mine

And all my kind.                                  And all my kind.

Wrong thoughts must be…                 ………………

…………………                                          Polished?

No. Cleansed                                       ………………

Eradicated!                                          …………

…………….                                              Removed?

Destroyed!                                          …………….

……………                                              So completely that they…

Can never be,                                     ……………..

Remem……                                         …membered.

…………..                                               And weapons?

Yes. Weapons have a purpose           ……………

……………..                                            A very useful purpose

In an imperfect world                         ……………

…………………                                        This world is most imperfect

Weapons are influence                      ……………

………………                                           Are persuasive

Are control                                        …………….

…………….                                            They strengthen our economy

Yes.                                                    ……………

………………….                                       I agree

Completely.                                       Completely.

There are hard times ahead,              ………………

But working together,                       ….. working together,

We can eliminate…………..               We can eliminate what is,

……………………..                                Different or unusual

Unwanted                                        Unloved

Yes. Times will be hard                     ………………

………………………                                For those without direction

But some of us…                             But some of us…

…………………..                                   Have a duty to lead

To set goals for the weak to aspire to   .…………………

……………….                                         Those who are gifted,

With knowledge of the truth,         With knowledge of the truth

Must teach this knowledge to …       ……………….

…………………..                                    Those without morals or intellect

As orders to be obeyed.                  As a gift freely given.

Harmony comes with unity,           Harmony comes with unity,

And the submission,                       And the submission,

Of the weak!                                     ……………..

………………..                                        …………….

……………….                                        Oh. Yes

Never forget that it is they…             ……………

………………………                                That are the aggressors.

Words are the servants of the powerful   ……………..

And our deeds must be justified to…      …………….

……………………………                            To the electorate?

To God. And to posterity.                    ……………….

Now is the time to take action,           ……………….

To invade!                                          To invade!

Are you with me or against me?        ………………

………………..                                         Mr President, use me as you wish

Liars

(a prose poem)

A deep American voice informs us that, “We only massacred Vietnamese civilians just that one time. At My Lai.”

He thinks it best to keep the witnesses silent and the evidence hidden.

A friendly English voice confides in us, “Trust me, for they do have weapons of Mass Destruction.”

He thinks it best to cajole a nation into war using truths that have been broken and crippled.

A passionate voice cries out to the World in Hebrew, “We are only defending ourselves against Palestinian terrorists.”

He does not mention the theft of land and water. He fails to talk about the thousands of protestors who are hurt and maimed. And he never speaks about the Palestinian children who are killed. Indeed, is “killed” a word that can fully describe what happens when one nation blows apart with missiles the children of another? Such a word should render the listener unable to speak. Make them faint with horror. This new word could perhaps be shaped from the tears of a grieving mother.

And what do ordinary people do with liars? Why, we vote them into power.

Ashby McGowan

I live in Glasgow, Scotland and love poetry and short stories. I have a website for each https://humanrightspoetryashbymcgowan.wordpress.com/ and a short story website https://ashbyshortstories.wordpress.com/.

My multi-voice poetry can be found at: https://multivoicepoetry.wordpress.com/. I have details here on how to write multi-voice poetry and I also have interactive poems and a play that you can really take part in!

I am a Buddhist and a vegan. I campaign for human and animal rights. I am also on Twitter and Facebook. Please say, “Hi” to me there.