Not in Your War Anymore
POETRY FORMAT, 23 May 2016
Ada Aharoni – TRANSCEND Media Service
“War is as anachronistic as cannibalism,
slavery and colonialism…”
— Rosalie Bertell, No Immediate Answer
I am not in your war anymore.
Surely we cannot paint war green
when even the long Cold War is dying,
so let’s paint it in all its true
foliage colors, to help its fall
First, flowing flamboyant crimson blood
on throbbing temples and hands,
then russet bronze fiery metal cartridges
stuffing the crevices of young hearts
while golden laser Napalm dragon tongues
gluttonously lick the sizzling eyes and lips
of our children, under
giant mushrooms
freshened by mustard and acid rain
Surely, at the close of our
great atomic century
we will soon find the archaic
history tree, where we can dump
our fearful bottle legacy
And our grandchildren
will ask their fathers,
what were tanks for, Pa?
And with eyes full of wonder,
they will read the story of the
glorious imprisonment
of the Nuclear Giant
in his bottle, corked for ever,
and will say –
Well done Pa, well done Ma!
______________________________
Ada Aharoni is founder of The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace-IFLAC. She is an Egyptian-born Israeli poet, writer, lecturer and peace researcher.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 23 May 2016.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Not in Your War Anymore, is included. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.