PLAYING SOLDIERS

Our armies are lined up:

facing off across the carpet,

generals on fine horses

presiding from behind the ranks.

My uncle launches an attack:

sends his infantry forward

then scatters then dead

across no-man's land

for dramatic effect.

They die so easily, I think.

handfuls of cheap life

sacrificed in the war zone.

Later, watching TV

we get news from Vietnam.

I know Hai Phong sounds funny

he says, but don't snigger.

Imagine those bombs

were falling on you

and me and Grandma?

Then he teaches me chess moves,

castles, kings and queens

the truth that mounted knights

were really not romantic.

 

Kissing Dynamite #19 July 2020. Editor Catherine Wheeler