John Bertin Poet Free verse

American Civil War

I remember the American Civil War
I watched it on my smartphone
The Holy Ghost in orange hair
said the New Vietnam is everywhere
I fell into a blank stare
and played more Pokemon

I now live with twenty machines
But there's not much to eat
The police took everybody away
I lay low, so I get to stay
ever at home to avoid the checkpoints
and play lots of Pokemon

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Jesse Zerlaut April 11, 2017 at 2:51 PM Is it fair to say that I'm not entirely sure my mind is working out the dynamics of your poem? What were you feeling, the mood behind it when you wrote? John Bertin April 15, 2017 at 2:49 PM The feeling in the poem is anxiety about the future. It's the banality of the media, Pokemon and Trump. The mood is everyday life while the world collapses. John Bertin April 15, 2017 at 2:43 PM It is an imagining of a possible future. Lots of high-tech gadgetry, but grinding poverty and war. The protagonist avoids the apocalypse by playing computer games and associating with machines. It is inspired by an article about India having food shortages, but everyone has a cellphone. I don't know if this showed in the poem, but it's about an America that is unsafe.