Poem: What Did We Learn in Viet Nam?

***

We learned a lot
in Viet Nam

We learned it is easier
to destroy
than create
or support

We learned to destroy
in our songs
and our newspapers
in our books and plays and popular arts
in our politics
on the battlefields and
in our private
lives

We learned the lesson
well

We learned it is easier to destroy
than to create or support or sustain

In our tv programs
and our games and in our jobs
in our political arenas
in the movies and in our music
in the streets
in the fields and rice
paddies
and in our
hearts

We learned
one hell
of a lot
in
Viet Nam

But what we did
not learn

is the greatest
lesson

***