Write a poem that describes how you feel about war.
The screams echo all around
The screams of leaders calling more to the fight
The screams of patriots decrying the enemy next door
The screams of talking heads broadcasting their nationalist propaganda
The screams of sirens warning of impending air raids
The screams of bombs leveling whole neighborhoods
The screams of buckling buildings burning to the ground
The screams of orphaned children in the street
The screams of mothers crying out for their lost sons and daughters
The screams of brothers in arms desperately trying to stem the life flowing from their fallen comrades
When the dust settles the screams are silent
The reflection begins
Anger
Disgust
Pain
Sorrow
What is the cost of a human life
Compounded in the hundreds
The thousands
The tens of thousands
Was it worth the waste of so many bright futures
For your land
For your oil
For your pride
The screams are silent now
The screams will follow you to your grave
Notes: I’m not really great at writing poetry. I don’t really “get” it, you know? Which is weird considering I used to write a ton of it back in my angsty teenager days. Or maybe not so weird, since I found some old stuff while looking for inspiration for this prompt and had the same reaction to my old poetry that I have to modern poetry: massive eyeroll. I did write a poem for 9/11 once that was allegedly published in an online anthology somewhere but I do not remember what it was. Oh, and there was the one I wrote for my dad’s funeral that was buried with him. Probably for the best, though everyone told me how beautiful it was. I don’t remember that one much either, and mostly I believed they were just saying that to be nice to me.
As far as the content of this weird word vomit goes, I think I capture my feelings about war pretty well. War is bad, mmkay? There’s a line from a song that kept repeating over and over in my head while working on this and it was super distracting but apt. “When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.” I just think people are too valuable a resource to waste trying to secure a different, finite resource. And I certainly don’t think it’s cool to involve innocent people in the squabbles of powerful men who will happily pit babies against babies just to prove they are “right” and their rival is “wrong.”
To quote Will Ferrell as Jackie Moon in Semi-Pro: “Everybody love everybody!” And now it’s your turn! Write a poem about war and your feelings therein. If you’re like me and don’t really write poetry, this is a great prompt to break you out of your comfort zone and try something different. I believe in you! Have a great night! See you tomorrow!
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