One Poem by Stephen House

 

so you

so you are going to take over 

the entire strip / 

clean up the mess 

the bombardment created / 

build a coastal playground 

like the riviera / 

scrape up the rubble 

and unexploded arms / 

so you intend to send those 

who live there away / 

take them from their land 

and country and home /

pick out some new places 

for them to exist / 

gather them up 

and decide on their future / 

so you will respond like this 

to the terror of war / 

the misery and death 

of innocent humans /

horror that cannot now 

be wiped away 

by disregarding people’s choices 

who are living there / 

so you assume the world 

will allow this to happen / 

agree you can do 

whatever you want /

applaud your middle east 

coastal holiday spot 

as you call some your allies 

and others your enemies /  

so you can do all the things 

you intend to do / 

decide what you will 

and carry it out / 

as the world power leader 

think it is all up to you 

for they voted you in 

and that is enough / 

so you were maybe surprised 

other countries didn’t like your plan 

as shown by reactions 

to what you suggested / 

and so now you have changed 

aspects of that idea 

but that doesn’t change 

how you are as a president //

Stephen House has won many awards and nominations as a poet, playwright, and actor. He’s been commissioned often, with 20 plays produced, and many published by Australian Plays Transform. He’s received international literature residencies from The Australia Council for the Arts to Canada and Ireland, and an Asialink literature residency to India. He’s had two chapbooks published by ICOE Press Australia: ‘real and unreal’ poetry and ‘The Ajoona Guest House’ monologue. His poetry is published often. He has performed his acclaimed monologues widely. He had a play run in Spain for 4 years.