It is made to be rolled down <br />a flight of stairs, <br />placed under a guilty hat, <br />or casually dropped into a basket <br />among the desks <br />of the wrongheaded statesmen. <br /> <br />As it tumbled on the carpeted stairs <br />or settles quietly <br />in its wire-wicker nest, <br />it begins to unfold, <br />a ragged flower whose raw petals <br />burn and scar... <br /> <br />Its wastepaper soil catches fire, <br />the hat is blown from its hook. <br />Five or six faces are suddenly, <br />permanently changed... <br /> <br />There will be many poems written <br />in the shape of a grenade - <br />one hard piece of metal flying off <br />might even topple a government.<br /><br />John Haines<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-poem-like-a-grenade/
