We already half dress for war

poem by: David Merritt
Written on Apr 11, 2018

My camo clothing fits me in shapeless splendour,

I wear oversize to disguise my figure,  
to hide, to bulk up, to cover my peacock colours and 
to sadly drab down and 

my patterns are made for far-away conflicts, 
fought in foreign inhospitable regions by 
foreign military and corporate masters and 

I blend into the deserts of Kuwait or Iraq 
or Afghanistan, I blend into the jungles of Vietnam and 
Colombia or the frozen wastes of the Arctic and
 
my green NATO jacket, fur-hooded, 
is ubiquitous in this urban environment and 

I am already half-dressed for war and 
casting about for the most appropriate 
places to fit in and 

I am already half-dressed for war, thanks, 
half-dressed for conflict, ready to compete and 
do battle and 

we are legions and big data subsets 
and socio-economic tax brackets and
 
we present as an army of misfits,
untrained and rag-taggle, 
memorable for
 our ability to just disappear, 
to move like fish in the oceans and seas, 
invisible from certain angles, 
schooling for protective 
and collective security. 

 

Tags: Metaphor, Imagery, Weird,

 

More by david merritt