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Skirting the Issue

Somebody saw the enemy’s fearless leader secretly slinking away The battle in the blood desert field of Raqqa was still raging on Hell’s fury had more than a pound of flesh left to take But that fearless leader, who was seen stealthily leaving, didn’t wanna collect his combat pay Two years to the day, he proudly recorded himself on videotape telling the young, newly recruited mujahideens that true glory was to sacrifice your life Give up yourself to God, in service for the holy jihad He then told them, he had the ticket to take them to paradise, where awaiting were seventy virgins for every brave, martyred man They would attend to their every need, earthly laborings no longer required in this life Selling sex in heaven is so carnally craven, but crafty older men always know how to rope the young buck steers in The fearless leader told the raw combat initiates, he and his lieutenants would love to join them in paradise But sadly, God gave not that honor to them He and his military brass had to soldier on and suffer in this bitter, unjust life And with seemingly somber gratitude, on film, he handed them a suicide pack Then trussed them in a death vest, and had them swear a suicide pact to their God Leading them to their own slaughter, where they would add more blood to the slaughter And when the videotape ended, the fearless leader was seen kissing the hands of the fledgling warrior pup wolves Now presently, as the battle inexorably neared it’s bloody conclusion, someone in the fleeing refugee crowd noticed the fearless leader furtively looking about He had his head down, covered in a dark-veiled niqab His manly form was draped by a black kaftan abaya In which the fearless leader tried tiredly to hide his cowardice in a long flowing skirt Like a wounded wolf hiding among the frightened refugee sheep, he was cowering quietly trying to blend in Covering his cowardly soul with a woman’s coat dress — in a jilbab, he walked bent to the ground low Fearless leader, you who told others to kill themselves for the holy cause Now you’re trying to save your skin, and stay alive, dressed in a Arabic woman’s disguise And you almost skunk skirted away, but an alert eye-witness fingered you Fearless leader ... caught and humiliated, you broke your own high moral code — when your manhood got gender low rated Looking like a scared woman, trying to desperately cling to life in the end A strange skirted issue: since it was you who told the young war boys to die as men

Copyright © | Year Posted 2017




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Date: 10/20/2017 6:10:00 AM
Wow! Another truly great write! And that is so...sending boys to die, covering the ears so you can’t hear, then trying to run with the spoils. Blessings, Freddie!
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Date: 10/19/2017 8:06:00 PM
I am left with many thoughts and i can't put them together as yet. To do the poem justice I need to read it several times. I love that it is making me think and look deeply into my thoughts about this topic. One thing I do know for sure is that we are not so different in talking you men into war just may be a different carrot. It is an important piece of writing well done.
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Cresswell Avatar
Patricia Cresswell
Date: 10/19/2017 8:07:00 PM
meant to be 'young men'

Book: Shattered Sighs