Bug Splats: Military Slang Poem by Terence George Craddock

origin of military slang 'bug splats'
yes our old trusty friend technology
limits in past deployed technology

'predator drone operators'
were viewing body kills
through grainy video images

which gives a time sense
of an insect being squashed
crushed to splattered mess

who will challenge this insensitivity
'raise awareness of civilian casualties'
'an artist collective installed a massive

portrait facing up in the heavily bombed
Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa region of Pakistan,
where drone attacks regularly occur'

drone attacks central in past war time zones

our U-turn detour to path Pakistan necessary
to explain an update drone camera 'operator sees
on his screen is not an anonymous dot on

the landscape but an innocent child victim's face'

'child featured in the (Pakistan) poster is nameless'
imposed upon the landscape is victim dead nameless

'according to FFR, (sources)
lost both her parents
and two young siblings

in a drone attack'
predator drone operators
kills! 'bug splats'

burgers and shakes

an artist collective wants
to challenge this mentality
a 'group of artists traveled

inside KPK province...
with the assistance
of highly enthusiastic locals,

unrolled (innocent child victim's face)
poster amongst mud huts and farms'
'hope... (image) will create empathy

... introspection amongst
(faceless) drone operators
... will create dialogue

amongst policy makers
leading to decisions
saving innocent lives

amongst heartless faceless policy makers
... leading to (compassion humane) decisions
that will save (child civilian) innocent lives'


Terence George Craddock (Afterglows Echoes Of Starlight)
Copyright © Terence George Craddock