Excuses For War Poem by Raj Dronamraju

Remembering the Maine as it is attacked by gunships in the Gulf of Tonkin while carrying weapons of mass destruction and displaying the flag of a different pirate ship

Not getting enough love from old money parents and shipped off to boarding school
Manufacturing enemies with help from compliant news organs
Drawing ever smaller adversaries as great ogres with sharp gnashing teeth

The bigger the lie, the more patriotism bends over to accommodate it
At an uncomfortable angle in an Old Navy collared preppy shirt
Frame an innocent country and assemble the mob
The ease in which 300 million individuals become one dull organism

The threat is imminent, the threat is non-existent
We were attacked, nothing like that happened
We were attacked, we attacked ourselves