American Lives Poem by Frank Bana

American lives
Are being wasted in Iraq.
It is entirely evident
Why, by whom
And how

But if you are a politician
In the USA
You have to issue an apology
If you utter the word 'wasted'
If you dare to voice the truth
At this late hour

It's like a fatal illness
For an imperial power
That can't bear to see the face
Of its own reality
To hear the dead and wounded
Lamenting the futility
After all this
Even now