Ben Turnbull at the Saatchi

Thank you Ben for reminding us
             that we are all composed
of tiny snippets of other people
             of their words and their actions
and their lives and their histories
             and their joys and tribulations
including their deaths in sad scenarios
              of heroism and sacrifice

taken from the warring
             world of destruction
recreated with tiny clippings
             from vintage American comic books
in which you capture the hollowness
             of military bombast
and all the wasted energies
             all the personal traumas
the heartbreak and loneliness
             and the endless pity of war

Thank you for your unflinching
             words and images broadcast
from the artistic trenches
             of your very own frontline
and dispatched so as
             to combat and confound
the arrogance and complacency
             of those in high places
who would thoughtlessly send
             young innocents to their death
in pointless and illegal wars
             that bring the realm of humanity
to the very brink of twilight’s
             last gleaming and so God Bless

John Lyons

Catch Ben Turnbull’s brilliant and poignant exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, King’s Road, from 11 April to 8 May 2017.