Frances Mac
On the Strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia
An adaptation of Donald Trump’s remarks made on August 21, 2017
seated the men
abroad send
our thoughts to sail
a collision
cover of night
the republic as
resolve unmatched
every generation given
the deed to immortality
a ration of purpose
transcend every line
and serve the oath
to inflict justice
to demand loyalty
love for America
requires hearts
and enemies
let us heal
with vigilance
and weary victory
the frustration over
trying to build
in our own image
following instinct
or a conceivable angle
after interests
and enduring worth
men made
in combat
the tools
of exit predictable
from shelter
to hasty withdrawal
we slip
into a vacuum
we created
we repeat
the mistake
we are agents
of chaos
an error
tense to spiral
into a troubling luxury
of making decisions
we dress the world
as it exists
in consequences
we need
the allure of glory
and the dry
haven of history
a shift
from how we begin
will ground
our power
someday perhaps
nobody will dictate
how to live
how to govern
how to long for time
but will that survive
democracy
our object
our waging battle
the why we sow
violence
the nowhere to hide
the export
of our heaviest burden
we cure country
to define our own
we are asking
others to be
a blank check
progress our unlimited cause
who are we
rounds spot the earth
a mine for the road
we shed peace
push onward
Poems by Frances Mac have appeared in Epigraph Magazine, Burnt Pine Magazine, The MacGuffin, and Santa Clara Review. She hails from the Texas Hill Country and currently lives in Washington, DC.
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