R. Skarritt

Wiley Wants a War
 
Joe Wiley born in a blue-blooded state
Red-blooded, hot-headed
And couldn’t shoot straight
Brass belt buckle and a lucky strike
Lost a finger to a table saw
And a tooth to election night
You get christened ugly
But later baptized mean
Wore screw-on metal plates
Drank from a civil-war canteen
Kept all his bills rolled up in a coffee can
No one would dare call him a modern man

Wiley never could breathe
All these interstates and airplanes
It ain’t nothing like old movies
No medals for being a look alike John Wayne
Only medals for laying down a rich man’s law,
Nothing for being quickest on the draw,
Nothing for knowing they’re tapping the phone lines,
Nothing for being impossible to hypnotize,

Wiley, desperate for a great war
Something noble and true to die for
Wiley works at a guitar strings store
Damn it all
He’s going to the capitol
To do his democratic part
You hear that tik-tok-tik-tok?
He’s gonna show you all
A real American purple heart  

R. Skarritt is a novelist, poet, screenwriter, and organic farmer from southern New Hampshire. You can find her stories in Elegant Literature Magazine and NYC’s Open Book Zine. Her screenplay, SAINT K, was a finalist in the 2024 Screencraft Sci-Fi and Fantasy Screenplay Competition.  When she’s not at her desk writing, she’s probably engaged in romantic farm activities like shoveling compost, sanitizing thousands of seeding trays, or removing slugs trying to crawl into her coffee thermos.