Taming North Ken

Conversion to civilian use

War
And weaponry
Have their uses
That is why
Ploughshares
Fall from the sky
Cutting
Through clouds
Is just what is
Needed
Raking the corpses
Peace seeds
Impeded.
Converting
The soul
Converting
The gun
Using napalm
With ease
Insulating
Fair game
Residents
In flame
Jelly
on toast
While 27 floors
Roast
Bodies left
Charred
Steel girders
Still hard
Security high
Protects
Another lie.

 “O futuro é aqui! (The future is here): a climbing tower to train soldiers, recruiting for the army”

Dr T.P. Wilkinson writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is also the author of Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa (Maisonneuve Press, 2003). Read other articles by T.P..

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