Mars raged across the battlefield, killing Achaeans with abandon, until Minerva and her inspired Diomedes struck and drove him from the field. War, all too often, is the reverse. The allies of the Second World War strategically fought to resist Nazi and Fascist aggression. The last principal ally to join the fray, however, ended it in twin acts of nuclear assault against civilians. Somehow, the wisdom in war devolves into the bloodlust of mass-murder.
Perhaps that’s why Mars as colony-turned-independent rival of Earth has become a motif of so much modern science fiction. The Expanse novels and television series features a tech-savy Mars competing for stellar dominance against a united Earth, until war erupts between the super powers. Years before, the series Babylon 5 addressed a colonial Mars launching its own war for independence from Earth.
Whether red-faced God or planet, we can’t escape the rage and shame that drive us toward that genocidal escalation of violence: one no generation has ever escaped. Mars is the mirror of our own warfaring hearts. We have seen the enemy, and we are it.
dust
the last remnant
of dreams
I’m hosting Haibun Monday today over at dVerse Poets Pub. We’re writing about Mars. The Pub is open! Come join us!
Frank J. Tassone 
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