War Grammar

War Grammar

A Cigarette for a song!
a song a day,
oh! one good song a day!
Jack's a dull boy,
and he ain't askin why ..
Oh! work all work, no play!
The Sun's shining gold
in my old wine-glass,
and i gotta make that hay!
Busted in the stocks!
oh! i lost all money
i had kept for a rainy-day!
A cigarette for a song ..

Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs,
sibilance, hyperbole,
Greek oh! it's all greek to me,
snap-roll, totem-pole!!
Rhymes, synonyms, antonyms,
homonyms, homophones,
sticks and stones, cries and groans,
fighters, bombers, drones!!

Oh! all i hear is corps and cops
and squads and stryker-tanks!
companies, brigades,
battalions, platoons,
soldiers, officers, ranks!!
and all i know is words of war,
and price of stocks and oil!
and in my head oh! all my sweet thoughts,
coil and re-re-coil!!
Choked on war-news,
deafened by war-tunes,
prisoner to the grammar of war!
and each time i think i understand that bullshit,
oh! they've raised the bar!!

So busy as a bee,
i am writing a song
on bunkers and BTRs
for snug as a bug in a rug i am,
singing murder, pogroms, wars!!
For that's all i see
and that's all i hear,
so, that's all i talk about!
and sunshine and daffodils
and starry-nights can wait,
till the armies all back-out ..

Me, through the day today