2021 Poetry & Storytelling Competition Volume 4 | Page 18

The sounds of war

the war shows on tv

the guns and guns

and bombs and drones.

More people on the street

as fewer jobs with any pay

the jobs those jobs

that don’t pay many bills.

The war machines come home

they’re everywhere now

the tanks are rumbling the tanks

and body armor and bodies falling.

Young men in old gangs

live out the capitalist dream of money

the money money do-re-mi

and all the guns money can buy.

The cops on high alert

dealing with anger, insanity and pain

the chase, and the lights and the chase

leaves them wired and full of guns.

The war machines are the

cops on high alert and the ones

assuming all dark skinned men

are targets, targets, targets.

Who is winning?

Rick Kearns