in memoriam

this is a true if near impossible contest how can you write a poem about mourning and honouring the ones deceased in a war without it being somewhat political you do not have to be a feminist and as a man I hope to be one to know that the personal is political and the private is a very public sphere making decisions in groups such as celebrating Memorial Day for example remembering My Lai and Buchenwald can never be an individual solitary pursuit a poppy on lapels and automobile bumpers where have all the flowers gone indeed grieving purple hearts not lost in amnesia are statements which involve statesmanship gone wrong missions failed skeletons gathered loved ones bereaved ethics become immoral for sure I do condemn all wars and not the pawned veterans artificial borders are frontiers of madness and soldiers wrongly pay the ultimate price for what insanity exactly for whose gain a flag draped over a coffin appears to me to be a euphemism and declaration of capitulation to greed money power and humanity’s inherent bedevilments and in that sense I have a place for thinking of the dead I wish to have compassion empathy consideration not just for soldiers fallen in the course of seeming duty only but also for civilians slayed by unfriendly fire and contempt like others I have often claimed ‘never again’ in vain on Memorial Day I chose to read war poets and philosophers of peace pray reflect meditate and hope as I suck in the pain that wars are causing and on the matter of writing an unpolitical poem on this very day it is like fighting for peace with weapons or copulating for virginity ‘live by the sword and die by the sword’ is never double edged instead quite clear cut and it takes immeasurable guts to refuse the call a tribute of distinction allegiance to conscience strength and objection and to the principle that pacifism involves never forgetting what matters most notes to the reader: I spent 15 years in the Armed Forces and was discharged with honour and alive I have a subtle feeling that I might not place in this contest