Armistice Day … For Ever and Ever!

I am very much a mess
And I do know it.
And I hardly never ever not show it.

Perhaps I should wish I were a Bible Thumper, a Christian with a big “C”,
A believer kneeling often, chanting “Hail Marie”.
A soldier, a patriot
Comfortable standing with hand over heart
For the National Anthem, for Flag,
For You My God …
Thou Art.

But I don’t
And I won’t!

However, this 1960s (mess of a) child
Who thinks things are so wrong,
Will be all right,
ECOLOGICALLY!,
When we ALL get along.
…………………………………

Wait! … Let me do more with this song
Lest you feel I do you wrong.

There were many of my family and friends
In the Pacific, North Africa, and Europe …
In the Wars “Over There”.

o A true elder, Ossie Davis’ young brother,
Near and dear to our hearts
Returned from the Korean War
Shell-shocked and with wound.
Doc’ Davis still needs VA treatments
Which will not end soon.

o Childhood friend, Robert Cruz, left Vietnam
With terrible PTSD scars.
(LIFE IS NOT FAIR!
I sort of beat the system
And as a gringo Naval Aviator, never went.
I DORed.)

o Dad, Marine Master Sergeant Alton Martin,
With eyes and songs that were truly blue,
Was at the horrible Battle of Peleliu.

o And Uncle Bain–
Blasted into bits–
In Germany remains.
This left the family and many friends …
Of this quiet Clark Gable,
Of this horseman and athlete
So extremely able,
Of this beloved son of rural south Texas …

It left his loved ones in terrible fits.

“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”
So much bullshit!!!
From the European Front near that old Rhineland
Uncle Oscar Bain Martin, my namesake, said it true,
For the world, for the Red, for the White, for the Blue …
“If PEACE is planned as well as War is,
We should never have War to go through again!
We’d have PEACE forever!”
“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”
So very much bullshit!!!
………………………………

Wait! … I’m sorry,
But there must be more
Before we sort of begin
To close the door on War.

It’s known that the process is tough and lengthy
Needing
• Sophisticated peaceful plans,
• Peaceful strategies,
• Peaceful tactics,
• Peaceful measures.
• Peaceful replanning.
• And then new workable peaceful measures.
It’s complicated
Especially with inept leaders
And inept systems of ecological education
And inept ignorant masses.

We should fight the Might
Of status quo
And the powerful evil within.
Fight the ambush killings in our schools
De facto facilitated by the NRAs
And Trump and Trumpists
With their tweeting ways,
Massacres of the good in our Social Fabric,
War on dynamic homeostatic symbioses,
“Nature”, the environment.
We must win against misogyny, the overly ignorant;
Racism, xenophobia, tribalism;
Neoliberal capitalism, consumption, greed;
Warmongering, love of guns, adoration of soldiers and military;
Hallowed battled grounds and hallowed military machines; …
Against lust for Lands;
Against power-drunken, pompous, narcissistic inhumanity;
Against despots, “demigods”/demagogues, dastardly bad tyrants;
Against Neo-Hitlers, -Mussolinis, -Francos,
-Stalins, and -Perons.

Such terrible asses.
……………………………………

Wait! … Maybe all is okay?

God, the invisible hand of neoliberal capitalism;
Trump, Duterte, Putin, Jong-un, al-Assad, Bolsonaro, Erdogan
Will lead the way.

They’ll have us go for the Gold,
Fight for the tribe,
Pro patria
And we, the masses, can complacently and apathetically
Close our eyes, plug our ears, resist the temptation to feel,
Continue to be brain-dead,
Marching onward pro patria
With our guns and our bombs,
Our gas and germs,
Our words–
Nasty infectious evil propaganda–
From indoctrinated, pent-up, bombastic,
Hateful hate of haters
Behind our Divine, Holy, Blessed, Prayed-over
And all-knowing leaders.

We and Thee
Can doze away with Prayer
And Be Blessed.
……………………………..

Deep down few truly believe
This warped bullshit.

And though some thoughts do go to despair
Each and every day—

• We know a profound, comprehensive, and holistic Golden Rule;

• The humble, gentle, peaceful, and ecologically educated
Maintenance of our genes; …

• Hope and charity;

• PEACE;
Armistice for ever and ever

These are The Way.

pbm
[ 7 S’s / VV->^^ ]