"(there are a lot of retro Beats out who strike me as the literary equivalent of Civil War re-enactors)" 

   "Dog Sausage"

All the gray unlovely wars
Are written up; & shelves in stores
Sag burdened with their glad redundance,
The numbers dry, the backwards pundits:

We move a lot of them. I wonder
If past can outscream present thunder,
If turning over frozen battles
Shields the mind from window-rattles.

Or do they crave a narrative
When chaos stalks them where they live;
The outcomes clear, roles well-defined
Of victor &--the other kind?

Although it suits commercial sales
I think war boasts far fewer tales
Than these. There's really only one,
Of pain unsought, then no more fun.

A pamphlet maybe. Who would read
If all it said was, "None succeed"?
And who'd pursue that glorious boon
If all it meant was, "Die too soon"?

The books continue, pale & prim.
I wish i needn't deal with them
Or have to hear the savage news
That sizzles like a creeping fuse.

07 19 04

New Sosnowski.