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

David King

28 years old

David M. King was raised in Southern California. He teaches English at The City College in the City University of New York.

War Poem

Matt dropped a three on my two of hearts,
and the slaughter began.
He went to the fridge to get a Coke.
Snickers bars cost sixty cents.
And war made sense with playing cards.
In my house, Cokes were contraband.
On TVs, missiles fired. The same TVs
that we used to watch movies, where missiles fired.
When we were tired, we’d turn it off and go to bed.
Heads heavy with math, science, history.
We stole the cards from the hall tree.
We threw fake hand grenades. How lucky were we
to shoot fake guns? Everything was fake.
Playing doctor when nothing was at stake.

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