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World War 3 - Who Ordered Mushrooms

Before:
When no middle ground can be found amid rifts
They’ll send in a few unsolicited gifts
The east and the west shall politely decline
each incoming gift with a two fingered sign

It’s ‘You show me yours and I’ll show you mine
You’ll find mine is bigger and faster than thine’.
Those egotist madmen square up, face to face
Each has a red button hidden some place

During:
There’s streaks in the sky where the incoming fly
They can’t be outrun although some people try
A sullen man says in a voice that is wry,
“It’s a good day for kissing your backside goodbye.”

One handshake may well have made this a good day
Instead I head home where I’ll kneel down and pray
I hope that my lady will manage a laugh
When I say, “Let’s hide under that old tin bath.”

After:
The dust and the glory, the horror before me
No Big Mac and no more knickerbocker glory
The buildings, the trees and the telephone towers
Lay in the dust made by opposing powers

We showed em, we taught em, that we won’t be beat
And we won the war but with ashes to eat
The reds are all melted and their allies too
And we reign supreme but hey… where are you?

I’m sure you’re here somewhere to savour our win
To search through the rubble for champagne or gin
It seems there’s no signal for our mobile phones
but why is your purse amid those charcoaled bones

What will you think of my distorted face
With tumours and fissures all over the place
The air is so hot and it hard to perceive 
That if I should die there is no one to grieve

I’m breathing in soot and I finally see
Earth’s last pair of lungs are afire in me
My last living thought now that humans are done
Is ‘God save the west… and I’m so glad we won.’

Copyright © Terry Flood | Year Posted 2023

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David Fisher Date: 9/11/2023 5:34:00 PM Excellent, and so fun to read(war satire can be fun). Great lines, and greater finish. Seems to be a chronicle of the real thing. Login to Reply Terry Flood Date: 9/11/2023 5:43:00 PM I always loved ‘Mash’, maybe that’s where my cynical streak came from… or maybe it’s just that… this is too damned real. Thank you, David. Terry

Christina Bowring Date: 9/10/2023 9:30:00 AM This is such a well written poem Terry and powerful too. Great rhyming and flow throughout. You have captured the horrors of war and what could be a terrifying, devastating end well.Thank you for sharing. Login to Reply Terry Flood Date: 9/10/2023 2:43:00 PM Having been under the spell of my Rum n Raisin escapades, it was a pleasure to write something far darker without any need for levity - albeit on an uncomfortable but all too real premise. If ‘enjoyed’ is the right word, then I’m so glad you enjoyed. Terry

David Kavanagh Date: 9/10/2023 3:20:00 AM Yeah it’s a fair reflection of WW3 Terry, and the impossible stalemate we’re living in, they even coined a phrase for it called MAD (mutually assured destruction) A brilliant poem you’ve written here, with just the right amount of sarcasm throughout, but on a positive note, I always say if the nukes do fall, I hope the first one lands right on my head, cheers David Login to Reply Terry Flood Date: 9/10/2023 2:46:00 PM That last line of your comment made me laugh aloud, David. Thanks for your glowing appraisal - much appreciates as always.

Gershon Wolf Date: 9/9/2023 8:04:00 PM Thanks, Terry. Somewhere, Ray Bradbury is nodding his head in agreement. Sad, but true stuff here. ~ Gershon Login to Reply Terry Flood Date: 9/10/2023 2:50:00 PM I genuinely wonder what lunatic behaviour Putin will indulge in once the docs tell him his days are numbered. I live in hope that his generals will ‘disappear’ him. Thanks GW

Lin Lane Date: 9/8/2023 5:42:00 PM Terry, Your writing skill, whether fact or fiction, never fails to grab my attention and hold it. There is no winning side in any war, only losses of some measure… most become immeasurable through time. I’ve never liked anything red… Communists and neckties. Login to Reply Terry Flood Date: 9/10/2023 3:01:00 PM Thanks Lin. Alas, where would we be without Red? I mean ‘Rudolph the unremarkably nosed reindeer’ doesn’t quite have that Christmassy ring to it.

Kim Merryman Date: 9/8/2023 5:20:00 PM Terry, this was a fantastic write! Stark pictures of devastation with just the right amount of humor thrown in! I enjoyed this! Blessings, Kim M Login to Reply Terry Flood Date: 9/8/2023 5:33:00 PM Thank-you, Kim. I sincerely believe that the world (maybe or maybe-not today) rests on a knife edge. And it’s one good old fashioned nutter that will swing the pendulum one way or the other. And I do think Putin is a nutter: completely and utterly wacko. I entrust the future of our planet to his more astute generals… God help us! By the way… glad you enjoyed ;-)