Poem by Barbara Goldberg

War Doesn’t Want
 
War doesn't want to be
an arcade game, doesn't
want an enemy a blip
on the radar screen.
It doesn't want a victor
with the best eye-hand
coordination. It wants
the thrill of killing
at intimate range, wants
the torch, the stench
of singed flesh (the skin
tastes best). It hates
dining alone, making death
with strangers. It wants
to know what it's eating.

​Barbara Goldberg (Montgomery County, MD), poet, translator and essayist, is Series Editor of The Word Works’ International Edition’s.

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