56. “Planning an Iranian War”

A poem from AS WELL AS CAN BE EXPECTED: Selected poems, including Things need not be this way, by Richard L. Rose

Planning an Iranian War

Nothing about this seems true
though headlines declare.
None who knows seems to care
when accidents are contrived.
None but the hopeless arrive,
bringing nothing to do —
all pumped with purpose and pomp,
all proud of their glittering gear
to engage distraction and fear.
None enters the cauldron —
the cyclone — of war
without planning to act without warning.

Here’s the deal (Yes, there’s a deal — although no coins or bitcoins are involved): If you are reading these poems, we are communicating and maybe even communing. Except I don’t know about it as long as you keep your peace. Please make a response, even if it’s only “Duly noted.”