[patton]

The poem is by ee cummings, about war. He makes the point that "war is hell", but no one will listen (plato told him...).

The "nipponized bit" refers to the Chicago elevated subway - it was dismantled and sold to the Japanese (Nippon) immediatly prior to WWII, as scrap iron. They melted it down for munitions, which they then lobbed against the US (Pearl Harbor).

It is very much like smokers saying, "Your business will suffer..."

But no one listens.

[Bahbah]

No, they don't listen. As a FReeper history note, it was my grandfather, James McGinley, who introduced the elevated train legislation in the Illinois legislature.

[Publius6961]

Is that the whole poem in reply 6?

If not, would you be kind enough to post it?