Late Dictatorship Crisis
Throwing a military pity party over the border
in a late dictatorship crisis
the invasion is concocted and off the level
and the spirit of humanity knows it
and we’re reminded liberty is worth dying for
and the world owes a debt to those who do
keeping the world a little freer a little longer
a shield at the edge of Europe for our three quarter century peace
and it’s time once again we should get together
and commit to the things we claim we’re for.
Granddaughter
A grandpa sits beside his granddaughter in a chair all day
killed and under a blanket
a Russian rocket was intercepted and fell
and it could have killed dozens of people
but it only killed one
his granddaughter.
February 2020, Bucha
Body bags lifted down from the truck in a bag
dragged to the skinny trench
and left there
a line of bodies like an underground snake
covered and in the future when they’re found
debates will contemplate the massacre
but the bodies are in bags
it took care to bring them to the trench with some dignity
of which they ran out of in life
these bodies weren’t killed by the trench’s diggers
an unjust psycho war has been launched.
Red Light Mariupol
Goddamn it I say
fuck my life
the green light turned to yellow
too far away to make it
and I have to sit at the red light
while the radio news cuts back from its commercial break
and announces the bombing and utter leveling
of several mariupol neighborhoods in the latest history page.
Life For Country
Decoy skulls and helmets held above the trench line
get blown to bits by sniping enemy guns
across a field of artillery craters
but the whistles all sound and over we go
it is our turn
orders to the top from the top
and we must ascend
stand tall and run
and shower them with bullets
and sprint like the dickens underneath
before they can lift their heads
from below our volleys of metal
and I force my way to their trench
and shoot them all clear
and I look for my comrades
over my shoulder as I dive inside
but there are none alongside me
I made it alone
and I hear foreign phrases around the ditch curve
and they discover me and raise their rifles
and I raise my hands
to surrender my war
but they pull their triggers
and the bullets spiral
and everything turns slow
closer and closer
bigger and bigger
and they’re right between my eyes
and I tighten my brow to take them head on
and that was the war for me.
Ukrainian Sacrifice
Snipers in the windows are trying to make me die for my country.
I love the motherland but I do not hate these window men
and I wish we could all go home back to our wives and children
our saturday afternoon hobbies and nightly scotches
and return to our blissful ignorance of each other’s existence
but our statesmen have irreconcilable differences
so they send us peaceful people to war
while they go back to their wives and children
their saturday afternoon hobbies and nightly scotches
and other comfortable materialisms
with willful ignorance of other corners of the world.
Pinned down behind a car in front of you
waiting for my folk to advance behind you
I honor your previously comfortable life
your lovely wife’s warm body under the covers at night
your angel children reading books on the floor
your finesse with your nightly hobbies and talents
your love for single malts tingling with the day’s successes
and your unfamiliarity with me
you couldn’t recognize me on the street if I walked past
how beautiful your life is!
Unfortunately I am more fond of mine
and I am afraid my folk will have to annihilate you and yours
for me to return home and forget all this.
I sincerely hope our mortars are quick and painless
and I truly honor the sacrifice you are making for me.
Thanks for your eyeballs!
—Dash MacIntyre
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