When the poets are tough guys

Many cultures, including those in the Ancient Near East, have taunt songs. You can find a few in the Bible. Isaiah 14:3-23 is an example .

If enemy lines are opposing each other across no man’s land, one will break out in song, describing how the opponent will be drubbed. After the battle, another taunt song will describe the drubbing.

Charles Reznikoff did a take on the genre in “I will write songs against you.”

But instead of breaking the teeth and scattering the bones of the enemies, the poet pelts them with dandelion seeds. How’s this for a threat?

            I will marshal against you

            The fireflies of the dusk.

I suppose you could get through life without reading Reznikoff. But why would you want to?