Which Life Will
It is a day for remembrance
The ships are sinking deeper
Parts of other things
Relevant
Are found below
Now and then
A surprise attack isn’t good
Not for defenders
And all our planes and ships in tows
Exploded one after another
And the people
The people mattered more
And the loss of them was grand in scale
And awful
Enemies to allies
Plans
To rebuild the world
Maybe we learn from these great wars
That great is relative
(like grand)
That loss is terrible
In the unnatural aspect of the thing
In which we kill our siblings
And our parents
And our children
The nations’ lines that
Might come back
Rearranged
While those who live within
Might not be caring more
Than the chance
To live on either side
Though lines may
Determine policies
Sometimes
Ways to live
Perhaps
Challenges to
Pride
A pride I doubt those
Gone
Might feel
Anymore
Though we don’t know the afterlife that well
As for this life
Well
There is that learning
Before we add more numbers to
The world at war
C L Couch
Photo by Luke Scarpino on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Wars that Cannot End All Wars
(on D-Day citing Second, other wars)
x
I can’t imagine
All the dead and dying on
That day
I won’t see or hear
Private Ryan
(or
by the way
Titanic)
I’ve known some injury and
Death
From crashes and
From cancer
The
Suicides
By people I have known
x
Sardined into a craft and then
The craft
By planes above
Or guns on shore
Explodes
On its way
To shore
Or those who leave
The boats
And are cut down
Unused guns
Held
Grenades
At hand
x
By the numbers the
Campaign
Was successful
In that the Allies
Overwhelmed the beaches
Finally
Finally
The parts once come together
A hold by hand
As far as
The living and the dead can
Hold
A military grasp
On the edge of Europe
x
A return
As when
MacArthur would return
An axis away
To the Philippines
x
Military plans
And executions
When it’s
Time
We go
x
Citizen expectations
Change
The accepted loss
In Desert Storm
Was zero
(under two
hundred
died)
Though we lingered
In Afghanistan through
Presidents
The war on terror
By the numbers
And at home
x
These were their homes
The beaches
On into
Farms and towns
War anymore
Is always a home
Matter
Your home
Or mine
x
Imagine that
And live it in
Ukraine
And all the burning places
That could be called
Without PR
Sites
Homes
For war
x
Trenches
Chlorine gas
Same place
Years before
That is
France
Greater numbers next
Nuclear
Numbers
In Japan
Winning
Losing
Graves attest
x
Mostly
We try
Nowadays
To keep all of it conventional
Though there are strategies
And plans
That
We must hope
Stay shelved
Recalling
Greater victory is peace
Living on
These same places
This
Same planet
After
x
C L Couch
x
x
6 June 1944
x
as soon as I realized the date there was a Western (admittedly) instinctive resonance—that something enormous, consequential happened on this date when it was a day a long time ago
x
Photo by Eric HOARAU on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Four Score
x
I’m not sure what to say
Today
A day for remembrance
To respect a President
Who said so
And all the boys
And girls
To men and women
And civilians of all kinds
(were children killed?)
Who died
x
We can’t seek vengeance
Though we went for victory
And that tragically
Is fair to say
We made a war at home
That wasn’t there
Between the rubber drives
And paper drives
And rationed sugar
That was the war at home
We imprisoned
Our own
Now
Remembrance might
Be for learning, too
x
So we are always ready
For the next time
Properly vigilant
With reason
And with passion
x
Victory
Deserved
Marshall plans
After
Win
Too high a cost
We all agree
Rebuild the world
After
Bless the nation
Bless the world
x
Ready at war, which
Has been the
Burden of
A nation
Seek peace
Every day
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Ryan Stone on Unsplash
World War II Memorial, Independence Avenue Southwest
x
(x = space)
x
x
Toward the Ending of a Great War
(for 6 June 1944)
x
Today, many soldiers died
On all sides
x
Many civilians as well
In their towns
And on their fields,
Whole families
And many animals
x
For children
And for parents
We can’t imagine worse
Except for plague and
Drought, which are
Other kinds
Of war
x
The despot didn’t die
And would lead its people
Through
Ongoing and great suffering
x
Awful suffering,
Horrible—blooded,
Vivisected,
Tactical annihilation
By its hand
x
Today, many soldiers died
And civilians;
Many soldiers and civilians live
Then and now
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Shalev Cohen on Unsplash
x
Red Badge
(Battleground, 1949)
Watching a war movie
One of the better in
The genre
Everyone is frightened
Winter doesn’t help
Low clouds by day, and
There’s confusion
Even though
There’s order, too
How could I survive?
With my heart, I couldn’t
If it is congenital
(which is the current
guess), I guess I never
Could
Have gone
I’d miss the songs
The whistling in the dark
The weather that
Never seems to serve
Privation be it food
Or something potable
(who doesn’t need
a drink when drafted
at eighteen?),
Ammunition or the distance
That a letter brings,
A photograph
I’m speaking of the past
(the movie’s reach)
Now there are screens
And firm tries at
Armor, stronger missiles
That can guide
Themselves, it seems
Still, it’s a hellish business
No one should make
Money from it, then
Or now—It should be
A charity, the kind
That Lincoln said
We should have toward
All, funded through our
Tax dollars, as they
Say, at work this time
As a 501c3
Bring everyone back
In that fine order,
When it’s done. so
We all might start
Over, over here
It’s Sunday, and
I’m thinking about bullets
The kind that tear
Into flesh and
Malice in randomness
Through windows,
Let alone the shells,
As has been shown
While what
Is heard
Is a civilian scream
From the dark
Inside
Outside the street
Is burning, around
The pyres a dog
Alone, dodging
War tears into streets
There will never
Be another neighborhood
For good
This was my Sunday
Morning, sorry
I was not in church
But here—there was
A church scene in the
Movie, a chaplain
With a foot-wrapped
Message (first message
that of having given
boots away to another
soldier in that charity,
remember?)
That the Nazis wanted
War (they did want,
as remnants today)
So we, everyone
Who could—Pole,
Italian, Asian, Irish,
Latin, Black, Harvard,
Brooklyn—had
Some saving to do
Pastors, always
Talking about saving
I wish I could feel
Better but don’t
I’m tired, and I should
Have been at church
I should be
A better neighbor,
Standing up for what
Is right more often
Not merely
Trust a system
Here there were
Ranks and also branches
Stuffed in foxholes
With soldiers sharing
Cigarettes and stories
Chewing on
K rations unthankfully
(and why?)
Wanting chocolate and
The Stars and Stripes
To tell them beyond
The shoulders of
The next one
That war was
Over, peace declared,
And all go home
Maybe to another
Generation lost
But home it is
C L Couch
Photo by Kony Xyzx on Unsplash
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