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The army has its drummers, but they only know one rhythm. No pauses. No rests. Just a relentless rat-a-tat-tat on the same old snare they've been beating for every war. If it weren't so strident it would put us to sleep. If it weren't so piercing we might even dream. But dreaming is dangerous, so their drummers keep a time that keeps the troops in lock-step line: Uniform. Unimind. Dull. Dull. Dull. We march for peace. We walk out of step. No snares here. We have bongos, and congas, and djembes, tabla, bodhrans, tomtoms, doumbeks and many other exotic so-called foreign drums that beg bare hands to get down and syncopated, and even downright funky. No one keeps us in line because no one has to. No one here cares if we walk or dance. Did I mention we have no snares? I even saw one young guy today who recycled a plastic tank from his dad's water cooler. It works fine. Just add sticks! No need to lay pipe in the Afghan desert. Just stretch some rawhide over one end and you've got your own drum. You can play it by ear. You can play it by hand. You can start your own disarmy band. Hell, even oil drums could be put to better uses than rusting around crude gunk. Turn 'em over. Grab two sticks. Beat out a rhythm with no snares, a rhythm straight out of dreamtime, with eyes wide open and feet that dare to dance. · · · · · ·
Resources Iraq on Swans Poetry on Swans Sabina Becker is a poet and a writer who lives in Cobourg, Ontario with her computer, her books and her cats. You can see more of her work at http://www.sabinabecker.com. This is Becker's second contribution to Swans. Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Please, feel free to insert a link to this poem on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, please DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work without the expressed written authorization of Swans. This material is copyrighted, © Sabina Becker 2003. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. |
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