Beetlebung and Kettlehole--April Poems

Strategic Advice

"Busy giddy minds / with foreign quarrels,”
a perception like a present of prophecy,
as when time comes, Prince Hal obliges
toward France, for battalions to march
quietly at night and swords to rattle
to keep folks occupied at all costs.

Good advice from a dying king
still heeded in our time of no blades
but drones and exploding gifts
from the sky, as it must be why
three wars are keeping us engaged
to make us forget long shadows
falling on wheels sunk in a mud hole.


Prompt: Shakespeare’s birthday