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Ars poetica

The meteoric rise in the academic sanctioning of poets since the 1970s has made "ars poetica" one of the things never far from my mind.

Lord Tennyson Prays for Peace

In re: The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Sixty years since the blinding success
of the Dallas assassins, indifference to truth
is the inevitable, natural response produced
in people who’ve been shown what’s in store
for powerful people who say no to war.*

Some prelates repeal “Thou shalt not lie;”
Some poets implore us, not to think, but “to do and die.”

Dave Read

*LBJ greenlighted the Vietnam War, not JFK.
The Charge of the Light Brigade

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