20151013 (antiwar fervor)

Brian Terrell, Catholic Worker, drone war protestor,
gray haired kerchiefed presenter. Peg to my right, me
in front of the door at the CW Storefront last night

I can be a pushy shovey son of a bitch

Which I think I was last night at the 

Catholic Worker Storefront meeting

About drone warfare their speaker 

Brian Terrell I feared was not the

Powerful voice I had hoped for 

His statement lacked the punch 

Due the topic so when after an hour

He paused long enough to signal 

Another might comment I spoke loudly

Without introduction to clarify

The deadly seriousness of our 

Complaints about remote control war

Surely some wondered who is this

Buttinsky acting like we know him

Or should listen to him how did he get

The floor surely some thought 

My speaking disrespectful 

I apologized later he seemed unfazed

Of the fifty or so attending ten were

Students invited from Kent State

To learn from an actual Catholic

Worker one who had  

Worked with founder Dorothy Day

And who had recently spent some

Time in federal prison for defying 

An order not to set foot on a 

Drone control base he had been

With others arrested at several

Drone sites who was I to speak

To this group so aggressively

Maybe I was the only one awake

Maybe I injected a confirming 

Note to shake them all up

Earlier in the year Cleveland

Peace Action attempted an

Information and Demonstration 

Action as part of the regular

Saturday war protest vigil

I had prepared the speech for

The occasion and the handbills

To distribute the Market Square 

Crowd did not develop it was in

Indeed a case of preaching to the 

Choir it was a brisk morning

People to whom I tried to give

My carefully prepared notes

Had no interest in the war  

The war-weariness that

Comes with fourteen years of 

Fighting never winning 

Conclusively who are these maniacs

Wandering marching ranting

Carrying signs nobody cares

I’d rather get a coffee get out

Of my way and the same at

The Veterans for Peace

Protest at the air show

I was carrying a fervor for a 

Hopeless cause they were already

Persuaded the war is boring

We can do anything war has no 

Morality they started it they’re

Killing our guys I couldn’t

Let that happen again 

Shrieking was more fitting not 

Quiet comfortable talk people

You’re being lied to abused

Endangered and you’re sitting

Here like we’re talking about

Tepid tea I prayed it did some good

I can be very pushy

And shovey

c. J.S.Manista, 2015