Propellant (Gunpowder or Cordite)

Gunpowder, like poetry,
was mistaken for an immortality

potion. Poetry, like gunpowder
was first used to light up

the sky with every color outside
a summer window. 700 AD,

& the first propellant welcomed
the new year with combustible

surprise & eye-covering brightness.
Gunpowder: easily mistaken

for medicine, raising dragons
& open-palmed stars bird-level

in the sky while cordite can’t be
anything other than the killer

it was mixed to be. Since 1889,
nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine,

& petroleum jelly—a murderous
clique. Cordite is only good for killing.

Since 1889, cordite has made killing
safer & easier for the red-faced killers.