The 38 minute war

by CD Richards

Oh, break out the bubbly and uncork the port,
then join in sing-songs at our spinets;
a war of this sort surely ought to be fought—
it lasted just thirty-eight minutes!

The escarmouche started around nine-oh-two,
as British troops mounted a sortie;
but Sultan Khalid packed his bags and he flew—
the fighting was done by nine-forty.

This awful mismatch in far-off Zanzibar
has made its way into folklore;
but surely it's true that all fighting's bizarre—
not only the world's shortest war.

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Today's word: escarmouche (n.) a brief skirmish or fit of anger.

Apart from the word of the day, some other words which may not be common to all areas:

bubbly: champagne.
port: a fortified wine.
sortie: deployment of a military unit.
spinet: a small piano.

If you're curious to know more, just Google "Anglo-Zanzibar war".

My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.

Thanks for reading.

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The way all wars should be...

A chapter in the book A Potpourri of Poetic Curiosities

The 38 minute war

by CD Richards

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