Doug Holder is the founder, publisher, and co-editor of The Ibbetson Street Press. This poem appeared first at Sketchbook (July/August 2010, volume 5, issue 4).
Butchers Against the War
(based on a comment from Billy Collins)
By Doug Holder
No I am not another weak-wristed poet,
a weeping willow
against the unjust war,
the kind who says
“Oh, yes you feel
but I feel
so much more.”
I am a butcher
against the war.
I tear through the animal’s flesh
but it’s the killing
of boy for boy
that I deplore.
I leave my job
my apron damned,
streaked
with dried blood–
but still
I rail
against those
distant killing fields.
I have cut
a huge hanging
side of beef
with my knife’s
serrated, rabid teeth
but I abhor
your own hackneyed butchery
the carnage
of a carnivorous war.
Very powerful.
Doug, I like your poem’s honesty and excellent choice of words!
The description of war and our brothers and sisters in this poem are heart rendering.
Test
Wow! Powerful, indeed.