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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Sunday, September 21, 2014

There Is No Art To War

artwork by blue clementine art
There is no art to war
Art creates;
war destroys
Art understands;
war attacks
Art is honesty;
war is treachery
Art is tender;
war, indifferent

War is tactics
Strategy, scheming,
cold, efficient planning
Art is ardor
Energy, fire,
hot, chaotic humanity

There is no art to war
Allying the two
is a disgrace, a blasphemy
Art would sooner die
than be captured 
in service of war

It often does.

submitted (late) for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Get Listed (September)



2 comments:

Kerry O'Connor said...

Very well spoken, LM. You have laid out the dichotomy of love vs war very well.

Anonymous said...

yes, yes it does.

I suspect the word 'art' in the title is used as a shorthand for expertise, and for the emotional and at times irrational (non-rational) decisions that must go into the execution of a task as grim as war.

and again, there is no art in war, but Guernica screams for all of us.

thank you for adding your voice, LM ~ M