War Movie

War has definite moral boundaries:
what we do is right, what the enemy does is wrong.

 We, by now, expect it. 
The camera makes it explicit: It is us or them.

 The enemy looks a lot like ourselves,  
nonetheless needs killing.

 For reel after reel it’s the same.  We hate their guts,
rejoice in crude names they’ve been given;
cheer at their deaths.

 Of course, they are only actors that you’ve never met, 
certainly not in hand-to-hand combat.

 You’ve never fired a rifle.
If you had to run from a theater under attack.
What would you do?

 Oh, it’s fun to hate as part of a simple diversion,
to stay up late and cheer when the movie ends.  
Of course we’ve won.

 So, you’ve shared mild fear, 
done some mourning, and come out alive.

 Do you think in a real war you’d be?