None of the class could put their uniform

on in under a minute, fit their gas masks

 

and speak in a BBC accent. Two ran off

to explore World War Two but got lost

 

in the Blitz. Boys cooed at machine gun

nests and gagged at the taste of canned beef,

 

mistaking it for mustard gas. Everyone

laughed at the tour guide's rendition

 

of "Oh! It's a Lovely War" but wept

when someone's mobile phone went off,

 

blaring Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean".

Some of the older children vowed

 

to enlist in Kitchener's army if

he was still around, tattooing

 

God Save the King on their forearms

during lunch. Nobody chewed the words

 

of "Dulce et Decorum est" thoroughly.

At the end of the day, everyone carved

 

trenches into their desks and stared

at the clock, waiting for it to drop like a bomb.

 

(3rd prize SLQ Poetry Competition July 2010)