The Departure, Pablo Picasso, Part Two

By John Brantingham

Pablo,
who had seen
the Spanish Civil War,
World War I,
and World War II
force their rough love
on Europe,
describes the BSDM of war
in the tight neck brace
choking his knight out.

Metal is the fetish
of every rich man
who pushes us to war,
metal and the release
of the bomb
or the lance
or that beautiful plume of mustard gas.