news the war to end all wars rolling
Bones, 5, November 2014
Helen Buckingham
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
新聞快報啟動結束所有戰爭的戰爭
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
新闻快报启动结束所有战争的战争
Bio Sketch
Helen Buckingham lives in Wells, England. Her work has been placed in awards, journals and anthologies throughout the world, among the latter: Haiku in English: the first hundred years (Norton, 2013). Her collections include water on the moon (Original Plus, 2010) and Armadillo Basket (Waterloo Press, 2011).
Emotionally speaking, the quick pace of a one-liner and the concluding word, "rolling," greatly enhances the suggestive power of the poem, and thematically speaking, the repeated use of the WW I slogan ("The war to end all wars")through the past 100 years makes this originally idealistic phrase sardonical, a tone that is effectively reinforced by the opening word, "news:"
ReplyDeleteWhat has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9
Helen's sociopolitically conscious poem reminds me of one of my haibun on a similar subject:
Alternative Fact for Trumplanders
A poem should be equal to:
Not true.
-- Archibald MacLeish, "Ars Poetica"
RealNews headline:
the Twitter war
to end all wars
"I approve this message" appears in bold letters at the lower right hand corner of the ad. Under the provision is the icon of a new red baseball cap emblazoned with the words "Make America Great Today."
NeverEnding Story, February 1, 2017