We’ll Fix anything – if we can
Fit the Solution inside of a Bomb²
The main Frontiers must never be
Crossed by anything except Bombs³
There is No Conceivable Consequence of
Not setting the Bomb off that is Worse than
The Known Consequence – of Setting it Off⁴
Warplanes sing in their skies like Unseasonal
Mosquitoes – and Bombs Yell like Steel Rain⁵
How many times must the Cannonball Fly, before
They’re Forever Banned … How many Deaths will
It take till we know: too many People have Died?⁶
We learn to sing a Child Calm in a Bomb shelter⁷
The Bombers Kill the Babies to make the
World Safe for Children to Grow up in⁸
To Enjoy Fireworks you would’ve had
To have Lived a Different kind of Life⁹
War Planes Choose You, discover
You, plant their Blackness in You¹⁰
¹ George Monbiot, Bomb Everyone
² Jimmy Dore, Sentenced to Live
³ George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
⁴ Douglas Adams, Life, The Universe and Everything
⁵ Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
⁶ Bob Dylan, Blowin’ in the Wind
⁷ Solmaz Sharif, Drone
⁸ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven
⁹ Naomi Shihab Nye, No Explosions
¹⁰ Mai Sayigh tr. Lena Jayyusi & Naomi Shihab Nye, Departure