110 Percent--By Gary Glauber--United States

110 Percent

Absolute certainty is dangerous.

Many powerful convictions

have led to convictions of another sort.

Fact: inflated notions reach limits

& burst, leaving us to tell stories,

pick up pieces, assess logic, & determine

how history shall convey it.

As such, we are all on trial.

Patriotic pride is no excuse

for irresponsible actions.

Language is only one barrier to overcome.

We train killing machines,

then act dismayed when one malfunctions.

War is hell. This oversimplified cliché

doesn’t begin to touch upon

intricate annoyances & horrors

that turn this absolute certainty

into someone’s absolute nightmare

in a blink of an eye,

the flash of a soldier’s weapon.

Gary Glauber is a poet, fiction writer, teacher, and former music journalist.  His works have received multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. He champions the underdog to the melodic rhythms of obscure power pop. His collection, Small Consolations (Aldrich Press) is available through Amazon, as is a chapbook, Memory Marries Desire (Finishing Line Press). His next collection, Worth the Candle, is forthcoming from Five Oaks Press.