How Many Times

I don't remember a time when War
wasn't on the tips of everyone's tongues.

Every page of the history books is littered with it
Even our ancient text tells us who to go to war with.

In the recent memory of our grandparents
there was the war to end all wars

and soon after that came the next one.
They've made movies and TV shows about

the intermediary wars. The peace and love of
the 60s went hand in hand with Vietnam.

And then there's the modern wars that have
gone on so long we forgot they were happening.

What a surprise when they ended and
people were mad for some reason.

This intrusion into Ukraine may be my
13-year-old's first war.

Or at least the first one he gets to experience
from the beginning.

I remember when my people left Russia.
It seems the Czar is still at it.

He wears a modern suit now.
He tells cameras and phones lies

about what isn't really his.
He sits in an office far from where

the cannonballs fly.