Misdirection

(Tonight's Battle with History)

Lately

I have been watching historical 

documentaries about war

and I am fascinated and saddened 

by the long history and incredible 

depths of man’s inhumanity against his brothers 

and though I have watched 

these same films many times 

it seems I do this to remind myself

that the events we are experiencing now

that have everyone so distraught and 

so depressed and hopeless with fear

are nothing more than

Hollywood headlines meant to 

keep us distracted from the reality

that our pockets were picked

while we sat there stupefied

watching America’s Got Talent 

instead of reminding ourselves

that the history of the world

is filled with great battles over 

atrocities that really mattered 

when people stood up and 

changed things forever.

     ~~~~

Each morning 

on my way to 

the kitchen for coffee 

I survey the battlefield where 

the dead bodies of once 

proud beer soldiers lie

and a critically wounded 

Kentucky bourbon general

clings to life 

and through the morning fog

that hangs over this now quiet place

I remind myself 

to send the order for reinforcements 

before we suffer the inevitable 

casualties in tonight’s battle with history.

Ken Owen

Van Niddy Press   September 2018