BANG!

[Manna]

BANG!

A history book yawns open
to reveal a tangled record
of battlefields in lines of words
and stacks of heroes-
turned-maggot food long ago.
Study now; we won’t continue
as future maggot food
if we can just remember
what’s in the next chapter.
A fly lands there on the word man
snug in the depression
between two world wars.
Bombs fall, there’s a fusillade of letters,
the next page is pillaged and raped.
The fly considers this manly activity
and scratches her eyes in anticipation,
she is poised for ambush.
The smell of rotten manglings
falls just shy of nourishment
for her three thousand maggot babies.

I snap the book shut
and celebrate my tiny victory.

[Cate]

Bang is right!

I'm loving this Manna - great use of language, very tight.

snug in the depression
between two world wars.

Very clever in a good way.

[Manna]

Thanks, Cate. Glad you liked it.

[mat james]

great image manna.
I'm not suggesting any changes. Yet I will say tha this image would make a fantastic haiku.
Matj