[ War remains headline news, as ever, perhaps distracting public
attention from the Big Bang, so says poet Gerry Sloan. ]
[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

TRILLION DOLLAR QUESTION  
[[link removed]]


 

Gerry Sloan

[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ War remains headline news, as ever, perhaps distracting public
attention from the Big Bang, so says poet Gerry Sloan. _

,

 

Trillion Dollar Question

By Gerry Sloan

            (for Dick Bennett)

Q: How many missiles does it take

to create a nuclear winter?

A: One. Or maybe two, in case

the first attempt misfires.

E.g. India and Pakistan have only

a few dozen weapons.

Whereas Russia and the USA

have thousands of warheads between us

and keep lobbying for more because...

Because it's extremely profitable

for certain special interest groups

whose heirs can't cash their inheritance

without food or oxygen. Even a modest

nuclear attack would still kill billions,

our tailgate parties forced to serve

sludge and soylent green.

We don't even have a label

for madness on such an epic scale.

Even the small word "greed"

can't begin to contain it.

Bonus question:

Why are the two words "shark attack"

more frightening than the two words

"nuclear winter?"

But not to worry. At the Arkansas

Military Museum is an antique console

for a nuclear launch, ten feet long

so a single madman acting alone

cannot destroy the planet.

Gerry Sloan is a retired music professor living in Fayetteville,
Arkansas. He is a lifetime member of OMNI: Center for Peace, Justice
and Ecology. He also won first prize for his "Poem for Palestine"
sponsored by the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in Canada. Recent poems appear
in: _Arkansas Review_, _The Midwest Quarterly_, _Blood & Bourbon_,
and _Rat's Ass Review_. 

* Poetry
[[link removed]]
* nuclear weapons
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]