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I was so inpired by Cari Oleskewicz's poem "Civilized Soldier", i wanted to write a reprise, a riff on her theme. Here it is, and thank you Cari for sharing you work!
Civilized Reprise
Lay down your mirror, comrade
The panic and screaming, the terror that boils is in me
Green Beret, Navy Seal, Marine, Gunner, Bombadier,
14, skinny, angry, shoot.
Today it wasn't someone you know.
.
Go to "Civilized Soldier" Back to Eric's Poems
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You don't want to see
God, the Devil and the rhetoric in between
I am the child killed in your war
I am the child with a gun in my hand
did I kill my own mother, my own brother, my own self?
Simple answers are dust on my mirror;
I wipe them away, and look at me.
Infantry, Foot Soldier
If he shot someone that young in school,
we'd send him up the river for life.
No rehab for you,
mister! We give up on 14 year olds
now. Where'd you get
that gun, son?
Your daddy? Where'd you learn
to kill? Where'd you learn to
shoot?
Where'd your hate come from, boy?
If he is a monster, then so am i. How
close to the edge
was I? were you? are you now?
So helpless, so desperate.
Tomorrow, what do you say when your
kid says "bling-bling" to her teacher?
Monster, killer, baby,
look in the mirror, not the TV.
We're all just a bunch of 5-year-olds