[Newspoetry] War Is a Way of Life

[Mike Lehman]

When the New York Times
Sent me an e-mail
With "War Is a Way of Life"
In the title
I thought
At long last
A hard hitting expose
Of the deep roots of the Imperial Bush Residency
In the military-industrial complex

Instead I was having this disreputable paper
Spam me hoping I would buy into
The way they were twisting the story
To show that it was the Afghanis’ desire
To be bombed further into the Stone Age
As part of Afghan society’s unique love for
Retail murder
Which transcends the sad record
Of the Pentagon and the CIA
Who never met a war they didn’t like
Even on occasions like Vietnam

With the modern attention span
The slaughter is more expeditious
With the modern attention to detail
The slaughter is more focused
But it is still wholesale slaughter
Something which the Afghanis
In their "War Is a Way of Life" lifestyle
Will surely learn a lot from
The way the US War Is a Way of Lifestyle treats them
Can we count on short memories
Or will we have to count on flaky ABMs?