Make Love Poems not War Poems

Poetry is meant for Love
And meditations, sage
The poetry of anger
Might just make me turn the page
And only Dylan Thomas
Ever begged a Muse to rage

But every week I’m tasked

To put in verse what’s on my mind
Alas, it’s all toward anger
That I find my soul inclined

 What are you so mad about?

I hear my critics scold
You’re living in Tarzana
And you’re comfortable and old

Even though I’m Catholic

Confession’s what I’m bad at
I find my passion most inflamed
When it’s me I’m mad at

I have a weekly platform

To amuse or to persuade
I didn’t make it happen
And that’s why I’m dismayed

Whether you think 43

Was blundering or deft
The world he had to deal with
Was the one that Clinton left

And likewise for Obama

Now, there’s just no route around it
He needed to address the world
Exactly as he found it

It’s great to be a leader, friend

But here’s the little catch
In terms of foreign policy
No one gets to start from scratch

Although you wouldn’t have gone there

And you didn’t want to stay
You can’t just close your eyes
And wish your enemies away

Isis is out slaughtering

Yazidis, Kurds, and Coptics
While back on Martha’s Vineyard
You’re just dealing with the optics

And oh the optics we have seen

The visions that we’ve shared
Where cruelty’s not cruel enough
No innocent is spared

I trust the oaths of enemies

And ends to which they’ve vowed
And that’s what leaves this poet mad
And crying…out loud