Graphology Superscription 117: administrations
Without viewing
the visuals, you’ll
likely know
what killing
looks like.
And you’ll know
that Biden’s call
for Ukraine to ‘revise’
its recruitment age
from twenty-five
to eighteen
is an ‘anthem
for doomed youth’
played out by proxy.
An act of creative
thinking.
And you’ll reason
that increased weapons-flow
is the twist in a presidential
pardon that serves
next generations.
You are forgiven...
and you... and you.
Thanks very much
(from afar)
for your sacrifice.
Processing, you’ll second-guess
that a new administration
will pursue pet conflicts
under chosen conditions.
A fresh set of eyes
even if you’re not looking.
Rerouting front lines
for fresher conscripts.
Different audio-visual
frames of reference.
Alternative newsfeeds.
You might re-say that wars
escape their makers,
their sustainers, and their
apologists. That wars ultimately
feed themselves. You might
tick off the days on the calendar
with or without hope.
You might also say that wars
ache with clichés for slaughter
even if you don’t view
that latest footage from x
or y co-ordinates — sicut dixit.
Edited... or even up-
loaded raw
and immediate.
And other such
affronts.
And having said all this,
if you do say all of this,
you might conjecture
over potential
‘peace talks’;
memorials;
re-plantings
of torn fields;
post-war
economies,
strategic
realignments.
Allegiances.
And that hardly
mellifluous saying:
‘adult time for adult crime’.
John Kinsella
