Good Poems: Weapons of Mass Discussion from Chelly McLear & S.A. Griffin

Weapons of mass destruction

sit suited in cities

thousands of miles from war

talking of terrorists,

moving pawns,

wiping out towns with a word,

justifying actions

(unjustifiable)

with the same words

over and over

and over and over

again

"Terrorists, territory, democracy

Terrorists, territory, democracy..."



Weapons of mass destruction

sit suited in cities

thousands of miles from war

hiding the truth

(Imperialists, territory, autocracy,

imperialists, territory, autocracy...)



Weapons of mass destruction

are easy to find

thousands of miles from war




- Chelly McLear
(Belfast)




Weapons of Mass Destruction


she was studying Dante’s Inferno
for her senior lit class

we sat side by side in 3rd period art

“Why are liars in a lower level of hell
than the murderers?”

impressed & curious
that she would
defer to me
on something I hadn’t read
I gave it a beat
then surprised myself,
“The truth is,
that the murderer probably only
kills one person.
The liar can potentially
kill millions, like Hitler.”

satisfied she had her answer
we shifted subjects
& continued on with our
drawing

she was more beautiful
than I could have known at the time

Vietnam was waiting for me
rents were cheap & inflation
was just appearing upon the
landscape of our yankee lexicon

if we only knew





S.A. Griffin

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Both these poems were posted as comments on Dave Lordan's MySpace and reposted with permission.