(On reflecting that the world
is ready to go to war again)
Detestable race, continue to expunge yourself, die out.
Breed faster, crowd, encroach, sing hymns, build
bombing airplanes;
Make speeches, unveil statues, issue bonds, parade;
Convert again into explosives the bewildered ammonia
and the distracted cellulose;
Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies
The hopeful bodies of the young; exhort,
Pray, pull long faces, be earnest,
be all but overcome, be photographed;
Confer, perfect your formulae, commercialize
Bacateria harmful to human tissue,
Put death on the market;
Breed, crowd, encroach,
expand, expunge yourself, die out,
Homo called sapiens.
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Comments
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A less patriotic, but far more truthful view of America than she often wrote, although it must be said that she rarely wrote very patriotically except on commission. And even then it was still very truthful. We read this at a poetry reading and though it was amaturishly read it still made quite an impact especially with all the talk of the draft be taken back up. Millay's sensitive yet caustic humor never fail to make her point.
Ladie
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