Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.

Benjamin Doty

32 years old

Benjamin Arda Doty is an MFA candidate at the University of Minnesota. His poetry has appeared in Drumvoices Revue and HoboEye.

Imperialism

Imperialism

The ground splits in half.
You pledge allegiance to
Two flags.

                 Right foot in Asia  —the East—

Left in Europe —the West—

Tectonic plates shift.

No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time,

So you must be nothing
But, cut down the middle,

Like two brothers who
Will kill each other
Until one of them
Rules an empire alone.

Baby

Baby

Cradle civilization
In your arms, the way
Your mother did,
Hand under head,
So your neck
Wouldn’t break.

Put the child in the crib.
Rock it back and forth, gently,
Because you now
It will soon have nightmares
That will never go away.

Say something sweet
It will hear in its
Subterranean world
Of hiccups.

But say little.
Your tongue is tipped
Like a pitchfork
With too much to tell
About the short history
Of humankind.  

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