'The People Don't Want War', by Michael Pedretti

Does the moon ask
If you are loyal
Before it shines or not?
During the Nuremberg trials,
Herman Goering
Put it succinctly,

“Why, of course, the people don’t
want war.
Why would some poor
slob on a farm want to
risk his life in a war
when the best that he
can get out of it is to
come back to his farm in one piece?

“Naturally, the common people don’t want war;
neither in Russia
nor in England
nor in America,
nor for that matter in Germany.
That is understood.

“It is always a simple matter to
drag the people along,
whether it is a democracy
or a fascist dictatorship
or a Parliament
or a Communist dictatorship.

“Voice or no voice,
the people can always be
brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy.
All you have to do is tell them
they are being attacked, and
denounce the pacifists for
lack of patriotism,
and exposing the country
to greater danger.
It works the same way in any country.”

“You cannot understand
What it means to be born
Poor or rich or handicapped
To be a Black man in America.
Certainly, you will never know
Until just before the end
What your mother felt when
Death sent her in and out.”

We hear that every day
From this one or that one,
Until we come to believe
And even act as if
We cannot resist
Mr. Warmaker tickling our
Patriotic nerve to squash those who’d
Dare to act, look, or talk
Different from our own.

I ask again,
Does the moon opt
To shine differently on
Those who are born elsewhere
Blurring the chance
To get inside their step
Blocking out our compassion

Making it easier for us to die
For naught, or, if we are
Lucky, return
One limb less to our crumbling farm?

Michael Pedretti is the author of ten books, including Twenty Poems Written in 2020, Time to Journey Home, and The Inside Story of Movement Theatre International’s Mime and Clown Festivals, the longest running international theater festival in America. He has contributed articles to many presses including American Theater magazine, Fixator Press, and the Mime Journal.