Why I Am Not Going to Iraq

POETRY FORMAT, 7 Apr 2014

Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service

I am not going to Iraq
because I might see
a ten year-old girl get her face blown off
and then I’d come back to the United States
and try to kill George Bush
with my bare hands,
and that could get me in trouble.
I am not going to Iraq
because I am not a brave Quaker
and don’t want to end up
like Tom Fox.
I am not going to Iraq
because I don’t have to
and there are too many sadists and suckers
who go willingly.
I am not going to Iraq
because, fragile though my sense of masculinity may be,
I don’t want to puff it up
at the expense of frightened old women.
I am not going now,
but I hope that someday I will go to Iraq
to ask forgiveness.

_______________________________

Tom Greening: “I engage in five professional activities:
Faculty Member at Saybrook University
Private Practice of Psychotherapy
Clinical Professor of Psychology, UCLA
International Editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Writing (Poetry).”
www.tomgreening.com

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 7 Apr 2014.

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