War Porn

Mack Hall, HSG
mhall46184@aol.com

War Porn

A teacher reads the Band of Brothers speech

With feeling, raw, and real – his students yawn.
Olivier orates among the fields of Eire
In paint-sloshed war-time Technicolour streaks
The same desperate speech; the students ask
“What’s with that funny haircut?  That’s so weird.”
Branagh, in subtler shades, appeals to youth,
The youth who slyly check their glowing boxes:
Agincourt is not on their calendars,
Not today. 
                  Maybe when they’re middle-aged,
After they’ve slogged through blasted fields of souls
Disposed for purposes best known to those
Who sip their single-malt, count their medals,
And send America’s children to die
In some corner of an international field
That is forever sand.