Orbler
Byron Twain
Brenton
Dexter
Jeanne Dininni
Shilpa KarhikReady to Kill by Carl Sandburg
June 28th 2008 00:03
Ready to Kill
by Carl Sandburg
by Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)
TEN minutes now I have been looking at this.
I have gone by here before and wondered about it.
This is a bronze memorial of a famous general
Riding horseback with a flag and a sword and a revolver
on him.
I want to smash the whole thing into a pile of junk to be
hauled away to the scrap yard.
I put it straight to you,
After the farmer, the miner, the shop man, the factory
hand, the fireman and the teamster,
Have all been remembered with bronze memorials,
Shaping them on the job of getting all of us
Something to eat and something to wear,
When they stack a few silhouettes
Against the sky
Here in the park,
And show the real huskies that are doing the work of
the world, and feeding people instead of butchering them,
Then maybe I will stand here
And look easy at this general of the army holding a flag
in the air,
And riding like hell on horseback
Ready to kill anybody that gets in his way,
Ready to run the red blood and slush the bowels of men
all over the sweet new grass of the prairie.
Review in Poem by Dexter
A timeless ritual attached to warriors of any era,
The glorifying, remembrance and respect to the fallen.
Inching through slaughter to their own speck of immortality.
Patriotism, the most extreme and radical racism,
Murdering for geography, on the whims of politcians.
Driven by yearnings for wealth, personal grudges are not absolutes.
Shrines and statues to mindless carnage, to those following diabolical orders with frenzied willingness.
Noble intentions are programmed, believing in the perception of a universal society and aiding the meek,
Killing in someone else’s home to keep their own country, house and family safe.
Necessary or not the words heroics, bravery and courage forever,
Etched to their memory, despite the torment and psychological toll on many soldiers.
Perhaps the first step to ending war is to remove the worship of the combatants.
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