THE INURGENTS
We came to conquer
like the hordes of Genghis Khan
armed to do battle on the fields of grain.
With no shame, mercy or regret
we cleared the land
of all that lived there.
We cleared and plowed
the clay earth of the battlefield
so it resembled ancient Troy..
Our mechanized units leveled
and packed the clay earth
that was a barley field home to many.
Victory! The hordes won.
Occupy! Occupy! Build and build
for this is our land!
Banish from this land
all the indigenous
who could question our claim.
Then there was peace.
Lawns were planted, trees took root
and hammocks were stretched with napping invaders.
But ants and cockroaches
joined the mosquitoes and gnats
to spy before starting a guerilla war.
First came the stealth crows
with their screaming Stuka dive-bombing
raining white terror over the neighborhoods.
Then the fruit of our tree was stolen
by the night-raiding tree rats
using the wires to evade cats.
Imported squirrels were brought from afar
to do the day-time raiding of
anything eatable as they waved their tails like flags.
Out of the sewers came the masked raiders
who fearlessly attacked our
garbage cans and cat food.
But the insurrection was leaderless
until the tom,Big Red, the Che Guevara of the revolt,
walked among us looking for places to attack.
Every revolution needs a Mata Hari.
Dolly came on the scene, fluffing her feathers
escaping the net as she did her dirty work.
The war is not over and the Afghani like indigenous folks,
the insurgents,
want their lands back.
Doug Minnis
September 3,2012 (69 lines)