A Hundred Years After Wilfred Owen’s ‘Futility’: For The Statue In Birkenhead
My poem is based on and loosely follows the structure of Wilfred Owen’s poem: 'Futility’. My poem aims to explore the dichotomy between honouring the war dead and the senselessness of it, while war is still being promoted. The line: ‘All the statue can do today is warn,’ is a direct reference to Owen's own words ‘All a poet can do today is warn’, which I wanted to incorporate as a direct nod to him, along with the idea that poetry might seem futile in preventing war, but conversely, still manages to get its message across.
Caroline Burrows - VerseCycle
Put the soldier’s statue,
On a corner, opposite the square.
Named like the poem, ‘Futility'
Sits near the cenotaph that keeps score
Of those who were lost in battles won.
All the statue can do today is warn:
War games aren’t played for fun.
Shake hands politicians,
For honouring the heroes who die.
Their blood turns black your profit-margins
When you sell arms for the M.O.D.
Is it for this war-machine we mourn
Their blown arms, their left legs, their right minds,
And fake poppies get worn?
