Carpe Eventus

Carpe Eventus
By Lauren Weeks

Today, he’d fight to protect his country
Today, he’d fight to defend his country
He bowed his head and prayed to God
He bowed to the earth and prayed to Allah
He called his wife and told her to be brave
He kissed his wife and told her to be brave
He got in the Humvee with his men
He strapped the bomb to his chest alone
He entered Fallujah with his rifle
He entered Fallujah with his detonator
In his pocket was a photo of his daughter
In his pocket was a photo of his son
He saw an insurgent standing by the building
He saw a soldier approaching gun in hand

In the thunder of adrenaline
With sweat drenched brows
Their eyes met
And each thought
“Seize this moment, before it seizes you!”

He reached for his trigger
He reached for his switch
A bullet cut through the air
An explosion ignited the air
Imperialist or liberator
Terrorist or martyr

In the end it’s just humanity
Screaming bleeding on the ground

He feebly clutched his daughter’s photo
He feebly clutched his son’s photo
He prayed to God
He prayed to Allah

And for once, between enemies
A perfect understanding.


I wrote this poem for my Forms of Literature class. We had to write a poem that embodied the spirit of seizing the moment, and I asked my teacher if it would be acceptable to depart from the typical themes of spontaneous cheer in this genre for something a little more contemporary, serious, and meaningful. She approved, and the result was this poem. My goal, in addition to a new take on the "carpe diem" theme as something more in the vein of a single moment having life altering consequences, was to write a poem about war that was not biased and that was deeply human. If I may speak in the collective we and us representing the entire global community, not any one particular side: I think war today has a distance and anonymity that makes it easier for us to enthusiastically embrace an "us vs. them" mentality, reducing real human struggle down to something as casual and pedestrian as cheering for one's sport's team. We make war into a means to an end or a cause to rally behind or against but rarely do we really sit down and think about the individual cost to human life. When we do, it is tainted with bias in favor of our outlook on the war itself and our feelings about the soldiers on both sides. This poem sought to whittle war down to what it really is: human beings fighting and killing one another for the similar motive of what they believe to be the right thing to do. Maybe it's a bit cliche, but I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it.