Apple

Philip D. Appleman(born February 8, 1926) is an American poet. He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at Indiana University, Bloomington.

He has published eight volumes of poetry, three novels, and half a dozen nonfiction books, including the widely used Norton Critical Edition, Darwin. His poetry and fiction have won many awards including a fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Humanist Arts Award of the American Humanist Association, and have appeared in Harper’s, The Nation, New York Times, and Yale Review.

From Five Easy Prayers for Pagans.

O Karma, Dharma, pudding & pie,

gimme a break before I die:

grant me wisdom, will, & wit,

purity, probity, pluck, & grit.

Trustworthy, helpful, friendly, kind,

gimme great abs and a steel-trap mind.

And forgive, Ye Gods, some humble advice –

these little blessings would suffice

to beget an earthly paradise:

make the bad people good

and the good people nice,

and before our world goes over the brink,

teach the believers how to think.

A Simple Explanation For Everything

When the Syrians came down like a wolf on the fold,

Ahab of Israel sharpened his sword,

And soon the Jordan was running with blood.

Why did they Kill?

They killed for the Lord.

When Muhammad ran off to Medina, he swore

He would roar back to Mecca, this time with a horde

Of warriors thirsting for infidel gore.

Why did they Kill?

They killed for the Lord.

When the Pope's Inquisition put thousands in chains,

Their bodies were broken and branded and gored,

And the innocent perished in spasms of pain.

Why did they Kill?

They killed for the Lord.

When Puritans filled all New England with dread,

Hunting down women whose thoughts they abhorred,

They strung up the witches until they were dead.

Why did they Kill?

They killed for the Lord.

Now our Born-Agains tell us God gives them the word:

Send infidels off to their blazing reward!

So far-away rivers are running with blood.

Why are we killing?

We kill for the Lord.

The Responsibility by Peter Appleton

I am the man who gives the word,

If it should come, to use the Bomb.

I am the man who spreads the word

From him to them if it should come.

I am the man who gets the word

From him who spreads the word from him.

I am the man who drops the Bomb

If ordered by the one who's heard

From him who merely spreads the word

The first one gives if it should come.

I am the man who loads the Bomb

That he must drop should orders come

From him who gets the word passed on

By one who waits to hear from him.

I am the man who makes the Bomb

That he must load for him to drop

If told by one who gets the word

From one who passes it from him.

I am the man who fills the till,

Who pays the tax, who foots the bill

That guarantees the Bomb he makes

For him to load for him to drop

If orders come from one who gets

The word passed on to him by one

Who waits to hear it from the man

Who gives the word to use the Bomb.

I am the man behind it all;

I am the one responsible.