by Martin Galvin
Some wars we seem to want we do not need to win
Despite the spite with which the fight is made,
Despite the call by those we call our leaders
Despite the shame imputed to the shameless many.
Some wins we want do not need a war.
A war began yesterday but does not end today,
Goes on for years, goes past all reason down
The road we didn’t want to go and past the road
Would take us back where we had been as boys
And girls safe in a place we could not place
Anymore for it is far foul gone for evermore
From mind and map, from war’s foul aim to win
Despite the difference between want and need,
Despite the love we could have won together.
In the last ten years, Martin Galvin has published over 170 more poems in a wide variety of journals and magazines, including Poetry, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, Commonweal, Midwest Quarterly, Alimentum, OntheBus, Image, Poetry East, and New Issues and in a number of anthologies including Best American Poetry 1997 and Poets Against The War edited by Sam Hamill. In 2007, he was awarded a month-long residency at Yaddo.
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