Venice
You arrive by night
holding her hand
and it seems it's not quite
what you expected, so she
opens the travel guide
but flips to the end instead.
Now, you're thinking
of that canal you came
to see or another
'historic site', and as
she turns to speak
you notice her face,
the way it changes with
the colour of the light.
Making a Point
What if the war was never won
and instead they called a draw?
But what if the war couldn't be drawn
and somehow a decision
had to be reached?
Would they decide it on
body count differentials,
say bodies for and bodies against
or would they decide
it on aggregate, say most bodies
lost away from home?
Or what if the war was won
on a points system say:
2 points for a massacre
1 point for a cease-fire
and no points for a surrender
and then in the final stages it became
a knock-out playoff competition
and what if the final went into extra-time
after which the UN couldn't
intervene and all the conscientious objectors
on either side could be lined up
for a penalty shoot-out?
and what if the shoot-out
became a tie and it
went into sudden death
until no-one was left standing
except for one man who
survived the final bullet
thanks to a Bible stuck in his
left breast pocket?
©Mark Pirie
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