Cell Theory (Terrorism Starts With One Man) Poem by Marianne Reninger

In Cell Theory, Reininger takes a basic biological tenet, that a cell is the fundamental unit of life upon which everything grows and proliferates, and compares it the growth of terrorism and of terrorist ‘cells, ’ a term commonly used in the press to describe varying terrorist factions. In four simple straightforward stanzas, she demonstrates the growth of a terrorist cell and of terrorism…starting with ‘/One Man/ One Frayed Heart’ to ‘/Two Men/ Two Hungry Hearts/’ to ‘/Four Angry Men/ Four Fractured Hearts/’…’/And So It Goes, and So It Grows/’ In addition to increasing the number of men and their ‘hearts, ’ Reininger cleverly uses only one to two capitalized and descriptive words per line to highlight the roots of terrorism, thereby emphasizing the importance and heft of each reason, each word. For example she describes the one man with the words, “transgression, repression, obsession, and radicalization.’ In the next stanza, she expands on these words to include words highlighting opportunity, religion, and publications. In the third stanza, where four men are now involved, the language in the poems gets even darker describing ‘/Four Black Souls Drawing/ Four Tribal Bows Killing’/…but it is the last line in this stanza that hits hardest: ‘/Four Innocent Foes/’ which highlights the senseless killing of innocent people who’ve unwittingly become victims of warfare while trying to just live out their daily lives. Thus, in highlighting that terrorism start with just one, can the reader then extrapolate that the solution to terrorism can also begin with just one person, one loving heart, one poem, one….

One man throwing stones Two men breaking bones Three men call for death... Denounce them with your final breath.

When I hear or see the word, terrorism one picture comes to my mind. It is George Bush's picture.

The use of the cell theory is a clever metaphor and subversion of what it stands for, as the basic unit of life a cell is the genesis of an organism to flourish, as it divides it multiplies growing at greater rates of growth. Here though the cell in question is a tumor, a tumor of human hate and fear that grows exponentially with every passing person that it comes into contact. I think its clever that you go from 2 to 4 I have a feeling the pattern then would have emerged from 4 to 8 to 8 to 16 until their is a collective unit of hate from which tribalism is a symptom. The only way to stop the hate from growing is to become united. Great Job!

Terrorism! ! Destroying everything. Thanks for sharing.

Love it Marriane! So visual and powerful. So nice to meet you and your poetry is truly sublime. Hugs and Kisses from Athens

Beautiful and forceful in its effect. It is true; innocent are the one who are exploited and suffer most. Different groups and communities living side by side in harmony start to doubt each other and become enemy of each other. Loved your poem. Thanks for sharing.