Selected by:Alex Foreman

War

Introduction

When you think of war, what comes to mind?While doing this assignment, I had to constantly think of this question. So much so that this got me thinking of different ways to look at war. War is no longer just fighting to me. It’s also a way of keeping peace between others. Looking at “the soldier” sonnet poem, this really shows that it’s about peace not war. After finishing this assignment it made me feel proud to be done. But even at the beginning of the project I was eager to what was in store with this topic. -Alex Foreman

Table of Contents

Self made PoemsPg.4 Acrostic poemPg.5 Alliteration poemPg.6 Free versePg.7 List poemPg.8 Limerick

Published author poemsPg.9 AcrosticPg.10 BluesPg.11 CinquianPg.12 Couplet/End RhymePg.13 HaikuPg.14 Continuation of haikuPg.15 Rhyme poem (Lyrics)Pg.16 QuatrainPg.17 Rondeau poem Pg.18 Sonnet

Pg.19 Work Citations

Acrostic Poemby: Alex Foreman

Close rangeOpen fireMinesBattleAttackTactics

TaskAdrenalineNative Killer

Alliteration Poem by: Alex Foreman

The W in War

Would War Welcome Wimps?Or Would they Whack Walruses With Wood?

Free verse by: Alex Foreman

Your DeathBullets flying everywhereFriends in painDemocratic corruption.But as you see the white flagSomething sparkles from the sky.This,This is death,Your death….BOOM!!!

List Poem by: Alex Foreman

List of War:Guns

DestructionBloodDesertForestTanks

Air ForceDeathHopeBelief

SoldiersWar..

Limerick by: Alex Foreman Hussein’s Capture

They've turned Iraq into rubbleAnd stirred up a whole lot of troubleTo capture Hussein ...But who's sure that it's plainThat Saddam is himself - not a double?!

Acrostic poem SOLDIERS

Soldiers stood so pensiveOn the battle fieldLooking, staring at the bodiesDead blood and goreIs this how it should end?Even though they have won the warReality is that they’re gone!So may they rest in peace!

Reka, Marinela. “Soldiers.” “marinelareka.com.” http://marinelareka.com/?cat=498 April. 20th 2010

BluesCan you take it?

It's easy to be nice, boys When everything's O.K.It's easy to be cheerful, When your having things your way.But can you hold your head up And take it on the chin.When your heart is breaking And you feel like giving in?

It was easy back in England, Among the friends and folks.But now you miss the friendly hand, The joys, and songs, and jokes.The road ahead is stormy. And unless you're strong in mind,You'll find it isn't long before You're dragging far behind.

You've got to climb the hill, boys; It's no use turning back.There's only one way home, boys, And it's off the beaten track.Remember you're American, And when you reach the crest,You'll see a valley cool and green, Our country at its best.

You know there is a saying That sunshine follows rain,And sure enough you'll realize That joy will follow pain.Let courage be your password, Make fortitude your guide;And then instead of grousing, Just remember those who died.

Anonymous. “Can you take it?” “merkki.com.” http://www.merkki.com/poetry.htm April. 20th 2010

CinquainWar

War Sad, destructive

Killing, injuring, destroying A thing that kills life.

Terminator

Unknown, Saud. “War.” “courses.missouristate.edu” http://courses.missouristate.edu/ShaeJohnson/CinquainPoetryInstrucandEx.htm April. 21, 2010

Couplet/End Rhyme AIR ASSAULT

Thumping down the valley floor,contour flying - open door.

Squadron's choppers in a line,the Air Assault goes in on time.

Heart is pumping - temples too,Cobra Gunships - standing to.

Carbine locked in place,try to hide my fearful face.

Check my bag and check my rope,God give me some bloody hope.

Rifle slung behind my back,Grenades and ammo in my pack.

Machine gun belts cut in my neck,join the Gun Group on the deck.

Two fingers up - two minute test,check my kit and do my best.

Chopper flaring - out the door,stand on skids and count to four.

Throw my bag - back and behind,Go! Go! Go! - you're on the line.

Thumb up bum - rappel to earth,clear the line and hit the dirt.

Pull the pack strap roll away,God just get me through this day.

Subritzky, Michael. “Air Assault.” “Angelfire.com.” http://www.angelfire.com/wa/warpoetry/Michael.html April. 20th 2010

HaikuThe Civil War

Only a horse diedBefore the white flag flutteredOver Fort Sumter

Eighteen sixty-oneApril came in stormy thenFour-thirty, the twelfth

Pre-dawn it shatteredThe uneasy peace they knewWhen long darkness came

The blue and the grayMade a hundred shades of redThe colors of war

There is no hatredDeeper than between brothersSo close the distance

Wicked is the edgeThat divides the human heart From that which it loves

Loud days upon themWhen war whispers turned to howlsAnd all were made deaf

War is failure's priceWhen words cannot sway the willCurrency of blood

Enfilade sweeps farMerciless arcs through the lineCleaving open souls

A nation born freeYet to embrace enslavementHad to be reborn

Vessels can be weakTheir ship was unseaworthyThey were seamen still

Defeat's patinaOf melancholic broodingIs theirs to cherish

Valor on both sidesIs honored in human heartsThat grasp the horrorThough rebellion shownCourage worthy of respectTheir deaths not in vainDefeat assured usOf a strong United StatesSafe from divisionBoys' hands hold aloftThe fragile rag ennobledDeath will make them menThe flag was soddenWet with blood and morning dewCloth so creased with painOnly yesterdayIt whipped the air unawareOf its frailtyWhen the stripes and barsAnd stars and colors flyingUnfurl no moreBullets and diseaseTwin conspirators of deathWar's dark handmaidensDry and hard as boneHardtack, spit-wet to choke downTheir staple of lifeA sizzle in fat"Worm-castles" when vermin -filledSuch is nourishmentShoeless, cold, in ragsThese no gallant uniformsNot so handsome nowNo jaunty marchesBut leaden boredom and dread

And hungry half-sleepHear the roar, the roar

Rebel yell, Yankee cannonThe death of silence

Battlefield namesOnce towns innocent of bloodTinged now with horror

Fredericksburg's ghosts moanCry out across the freewaysFaint amid new noise

They can still be heardThe decibels of anguishHumming in the din

Tattered, shattered airShrapnel whipping through bowed treesA bruised sky, wounded

Through murderous pathsAnd biting pointed acresCourage propelled them

On and on they cameIt is sad to kill such menBrutal tasks of war

So many limbs fellSome with leaves and some withoutMingled on the ground

Mangled on the groundJuly's high beauty besmirchedWith bird song and sobs

Sherman hated war"It is all Hell, boys" he saidMan-made Hell on Earth

Continuedhaiku…

"Make it bad enoughTo make it over sooner"An orgy of deathBodies know the rageOf disease which is war tooFever took his sonTo anguish ShermanSo hated and belovedIn his pained madnessWhat Lee said was true"We shall grow too fond of it"The glory of warThe best it brings out"Good that it be terrible"Hate's lustful passionIn the wildernessThe madness and the horrorWhere is glory then?It lies in knowing

They would have to meet againNow as countrymenAnd look past raw woundsPast anger, shame and furyThis took valor tooThrough their pain and deathThey erased geographyAnd made us one landNow to make foemenBe as brothers once againTragedy must bindChastened by fireA nation made more sacredBy its sufferingOur national woundYoung bones moulder in old gravesWe still bear the scarsPioneer nationOur infant experimentFreedom's light on EarthOur AmericaWithstood her great upheavalFrom her knees she roseA solemn purchaseThe price was blood and sorrowTo weld a nationAnd make it uniteThrough common pain and healingUnbowed, free and one

For the bayonetFaced the wicked slopeOf hot, roaring raging airAnd go in to itTo be in Hell thenCould be no worse than that dayOn Little Round TopOh, doomed SultanaVictory could not save youFrom water and flameAnd proud arroganceSo the waves took you underTo perish unsungSix - hundred thousandDid close their eyes foreverThe future not theirsNot to see the startOf a new United StatesWithout slaveryAnd without these menWho slept in their early gravesSo much treasure goneThey killed each otherWith ecstasies of hatredTornadoes of rageAfter the battles

There are things worth fighting forWorthy of valorTwo days at ShilohEarthly days to rival HellAmid peach blossomsBereft of mercyLay carpets of the dyingTill tears turned to rainShenandoah screamedFrom Sheridan's ruthless torchEmbers drenched in blood"Dead on the field"Such words to echo in airHeart-breaking AutumnThe bloodiest dayAntietam's harvest of soulsAnd shamed victoryCold Harbor, cold heartChilled by time's swift, blunt slaughterBreath-taking carnageGuns with no bulletsCaused Chamberlain's fearful cry

Whelan, Melissa M. “Civil War Haiku.” “Civil war haiku.com.” http://www.civilwarhaiku.com/ April. 20th 2010

LyricsHero of War

by:Rise Against

He said, “Son, Have you see the world?Well, what would you say

If I said that you could?Just carry this gun and you’ll even get paid.”

I said, “That sounds pretty good.”

Black leather bootsSpit-shined so bright

They cut off my hair but it looked alrightWe marched and we sang

We all became friendsAs we learned how to fight

A hero of warYeah that’s what I’ll be

And when I come home They’ll be damn proud of me

I’ll carry this flag To the grave if I must

Because it’s flag that I love And a flag that I trust

I kicked in the doorI yelled my commands

The children, they criedBut I got my man

We took him awayA bag over his face

From his family and his friends

They took off his clothes They pissed in his hands

I told them to stopBut then I joined in

We beat him with gunsAnd batons not just once

But again and again

A hero of warYeah that’s what I’ll be

And when I come home They’ll be damn proud of me

I’ll carry this flag To the grave if I must

Because it’s flag that I love And a flag that I trust

She walked through bullets and hazeI asked her to stop

I begged her to stayBut she pressed on

So I lifted my gunAnd I fired away

The shells jumped through the smokeAnd into the sand

That the blood now had soakedShe collapsed with a flag in her hand

A flag white as snow

A hero of war Is that what the see

Just medals and scarsSo damn proud of me

And I brought home that flagNow it gathers dust

But it’s a flag that I loveIt’s the only flag I trust

He said, “Son, have you seen the world? Well what would you say, if I said that you could?”

McIlrath, Tim. “ Hero of War” Appeal to Reason. DGC/Interscope, 2008. http://www.riseagainst.com/discography/detail.aspx?pid=1533

Quatrain

ConflictWhen I see the falling bombsThen I see defended homes.Men above and men below

Die to save the good we know…

Scott, F.R. “Conflict” Poets and Critics George Woodcock, ed. Toronto: Oxford University, 1974, 21.

RondeauIn Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields. Dr. McCrae, John. “In Flanders Fields.” “love-poems.me.uk.” http://www.love-poems.me.uk/mccrae_in_flanders_fields_w_d.htm April 22 2010

SonnetThe Soldier

If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field

That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Brooke, Rupert. “The Soldier.” “sonnets.org.” http://www.sonnets.org/wwi.htm#005 April 22 2010

Anthology • Anonymous. “Can you take it?” “merkki.com.” http://www.merkki.com/poetry.htm April. 20th

2010• Brooke, Rupert. “The Soldier.” “sonnets.org.” http://www.sonnets.org/wwi.htm#005 April 22

2010• McIlrath, Tim. “ Hero of War” Appeal to Reason. DGC/Interscope, 2008.

http://www.riseagainst.com/discography/detail.aspx?pid=1533 • Dr. McCrae, John. “In Flanders Fields.” “love-poems.me.uk.”

http://www.love-poems.me.uk/mccrae_in_flanders_fields_w_d.htm April 22 2010• Reka, Marinela. “Soldiers.” “marinelareka.com.” http://marinelareka.com/?cat=498 April. 20th

2010• Scott, F.R. “Conflict” Poets and Critics George Woodcock, ed. Toronto: Oxford University, 1974,

21.• Subritzky, Michael. “Air Assault.” “Angelfire.com.”

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/warpoetry/Michael.html April. 20th 2010• Unknown, Saud. “War.” “courses.missouristate.edu”

http://courses.missouristate.edu/ShaeJohnson/CinquainPoetryInstrucandEx.htm April. 21, 2010

• Whelan, Melissa M. “Civil War Haiku.” “Civil war haiku.com.” http://www.civilwarhaiku.com/ April. 20th 2010

Pictures- Google Images