Listen to Marvin read War Words
Skirmish, assault, attack, war—
These genteel terms won’t do.
They’re names for children’s games,
Etymologically pale:
Guard, leap, attach, confusion—
Please!
We need to find proper words.
Illuminate, for all to see,
Hear, smell, taste,
Above all, feel
Just what we mean!
“At noon, this day,
We enter into a state
Of mutual evisceration
With our current enemies.
Under International Law,
We will burn each other
‘Till bubbling skin turns crisp—
We will maim and maul,
Inflict ripped pain,
And incentivize clever scientists
To invent new horror.
We will shred each other’s cities,
Vaporize,
Until one side, at least,
Discovers some semblance
Of sense.”
“Seared innocents?
Mere ‘collateral damage.’
Surviving troops,
Their dead
And twisted comrades?
National heroes, of course!”
The event?
Gloriously enshrined
In history books—
But without pictures
Powerful enough
To constrain new zealots,
And, of course,
Patriots!
(7/17/11)