The Nuclear Gentleman's Club

           I

India becomes a member of the Atomic Club
As if nuclear weapons were a hobby
Like needlepoint, only less ladylike
Or a gentleman’s club, only less gentle

And what do they chat about in their leather armchairs,
The depths of their last test,
Or the megatonnic potential of their arsenal
Or how the testing is going virtual?

Or is the talk about what the kids did at school today?
Look at this picture of Daddy and his Cruise missile
My kid gave a talk on the value of nuclear deterrance
Oh mine did show and tell on the meaning of fissile

Just imagine the membership cards.........
What would they read?
Member of the club with the potential to obliterate
Member of the club who decides our fate
Member of the club with nuclear capabilities
Member of the club with the atomic facilities
Or just a member of the club that doesn’t remember,
too busy playing with it’s nationalist member?

And this ones, scared of that one
because that one’s friends with that one
one has it for democracy
and the other against imperialism

And God (of your choice) is on every side
except that of those who the bomb falls on
or whose backyard provides
the place for the release of the devourer of worlds
the place where the atoms collide


while the memories stalk the present
claiming their cancerous debt
others are mere ashes
remembered lest we forget
that while the boys play with their toys
or the chicks strap on dicks
jackboots will still march across the world
with the cleaner tools of surgical strikes
bayonets and automatic rifles
and no matter how you do it
killing is not to trifle with
  

              II

modern war is everyone’s favorite show
with the best special effects
it makes everyone a general
in the armchair mode with a beer
just like a true Patriot
they give the team a cheer
and the good guys beat the bad guys
just like they do year after year

or do you prefer the newer screen god?
this year’s new game is Nuclear Command
loosely based on real life,
this game requires a super computer
just don’t tell the wife!
its real-time strategy game-play is amazing
you get to decide the fate of millions
with no pesky advisers raising
questions of morality or sense
it costs just a few million dollars
the price to be Prime Minister or President