by Ronald Wallace
Headline, The Washington Post on-line
It's nice to know the Pentagon
believes in the power of words,
that even a suicide bomb
is no match for a few good verbs
or a carefully drafted noun
or adjective in the suburbs
of Baghdad, Fallujah, Kirkuk, Mamoon.
How nothing so much preserves
the peace as the friendly fire of a phrase.
Let "Northern Watch" replace "Desert Storm,"
Let "Iraqi Freedom" be "Operation New Dawn,"
and the war's in a bright new phase!
Give us "surgical strike" and "collateral damage!"
Give us words for arms, we're dying for verbiage!
~
Copyright © 2010 - Ronald Wallace
Published: 3/11/10 · Author's Page · Next Poem