Writers’ Might Copyright © Rob Lock 2011

History is written by the winners,
the losers always come out sinners -
so it’s said, but I say unto ye:
it’s the people that can write who score in history.
I reiterate: the literate.
A case in point? The Saxons and the Vikings:
Vikings won hands down, but as they couldn’t write things
those Anglo Saxons get the better press
and we all blame the Norse men for causing them distress.
Rape and pillage, looting, et cetera?
Illuminating manuscripts, so much betterer.

Or consider the Spanish Civil War, the 30’s:
the fascists won, but they’re the dirties.
The Republicans had poets carrying guns,
so though the right-on guys were not the ones who won,
they’re the side whose monographs engage us,
spelling out the fact that that Franco was outrageous.

And while I’m on about it, let me say
war doesn’t keep population growth at bay:
there’s always a boom of baby boys
when armies return to domestic joys,
thus proving true one proverb the old folk adored -
the one about the penis: mightier than the sword.