No More Than Death | Teen Ink

No More Than Death

September 21, 2014
By SusanGranger BRONZE, Bogotá, Other
SusanGranger BRONZE, Bogotá, Other
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
“If there’s a book you want to read, but hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” –Toni Morrison


He put his hand on the dead boy
Childhood has fled
Boys have become men and men boys
Until he was shot in the head

All is the obverse of what it had been
Make speeches, unveil statues, issue bonds, parade
Attributing to himself things other men had seen
They would throw away rations, blow their Claymores and grenades

War. War is your trade. Is it not?
I know how weak men are, don't look that way
In our case we have not
What right man would have it any other way?


The author's comments:

This poem is different than any other else. It is a school assignment, in which we have to do a cut-paste poem. It has parts and fragments from other works of literature of war. Part of the assignment was to find an interesting place, and publishing it. There are fragments of "Soldier's Home" by Ernest Hemingway, "Apostrophe to Man" by Edna St.Vincent Millay, "Gates of fire" by Steven Pressfield, "The Naming of Parts" by Henry Reed, and parts of the excerpt "The judge, on war" of "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy. Even though I was inspired by others works to do my poem, this poem is unique because it grabs bits and pieces from other short stories and poems and creates something entirely different. 


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