DUCK SOUP

Was it Freud or Jung who suggested
that an intolerable level of guilt
will break out in violence,
ultimately either suicide
or genocide?

If it looks like genocide
and if it sounds like genocide
and if it smells like genocide
and if it tastes like genocide
and if it feels like genocide,
then chances are Bibi's
working on a suicidal
one-state solution.

B.B. Williams
Belfast, Maine

Contrary to normal practice, this poem sprang full-grown on the first day of the
Iran War and remeined intouched for a couple weeks until I added the one word
"suicidal" at the end and changed the title, adding "DUCK SOUP" in remembrance
of the Marx Brothers' great anti-war movie, a reminder of the folly of war.