The War
My father yells we won the war built it all concrete electric
sewage classrooms hospitals water pipes what are you complaining
about and I say all those people died then as people die now
but people hang new calendars and grow quieter
plant coffee on tables atop green carpets
what else can be done but grow and my father yells
we won the war we won the war we won the war
and I say yes we won the war we won the war
he says pick up a history book and I say we wrote
the history books and he says so what
are you complaining about we
voted for the same guy.
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Brandon Shane is a poet and horticulturist, born in Yokosuka, Japan. You can see his work in Rattle, trampset, Variant Lit, The Chiron Review, Stone Circle Review, IceFloe Press, The Marrow Poetry, ONE ART, among others. He graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in English.