"MARS ASCENDING"

Mars does not need justification.

He is the consequence of every other mechanism

and the justification for all of them simultaneously.

He is the most honest spirit in the hierarchy

because he does not pretend

to be anything other than what he is.

But the ones who profit from him

pretend constantly.

Sixty-one active conflicts — the most since the second great war

Global military spending crossed two point seven trillion last year

The US defense budget climbing toward a trillion before the decade

The congressional estimate surpassed by years

They call it deterrence — they call it collective security

But the classified targets no parliament reviews

And the arms industry lobby shaped the spending summit

Before a single head of state

Could choose

Mars ascending on the manufactured threat horizon

The enemy rotates its face but never disappears

Because the enemy's disappearance

Is the budget's disappearance

And the budget

Is the mechanism

That the mechanism

Most requires

Mars ascending on the fractured world's expenditure

One hundred fifty billion more from the beautiful bill

The defense contractor's share price moved before the summit

The war machine was hungry

And the summit was the fill

I speak the name beneath the national security narrative

I name the interest underneath the stated fear

The pentacle of Mars compels the honest declaration

Of who profits from the conflict

Year to year

Every social program cut to meet the spending target

Every development assistance gutted for the forge

The UK moved its aid allocation into military

While the contractor's revenue swelled

Beyond the gorge

The arms race is acceleration — not deterrence

Each spending surge demands the next respond

And the next conflict is the market's own continuation

And the profit margin

Is the iron bond

Mars ascending on the fractured world's expenditure

One hundred fifty billion more from the beautiful bill

The defense contractor's share price moved before the summit

The war machine was hungry

And the summit was the fill

I speak the name beneath the national security narrative

I name the interest underneath the stated fear

The pentacle of Mars compels the honest declaration

Of who profits from the conflict

Year to year

The riot is the gift

The broken state is the invoice

The manufactured threat

Is the budget justification

For the next manufactured threat

This is not conspiracy

This is the observable behavior

Of a machine

That requires conflict

To continue operating

And calls that requirement

A security interest

Mars has been named.

The honest declaration

has been compelled.

And the name beneath the interest

is the same name

it has always been.

Profit.