Barbarism Unchained #poetry

I was chained to oars on a boat

who cares that the sea salt tickled my nose

I could not inhale the fresh brisk air

filth filled my nostrils

and leather threatened to lick my shoulders

“pull.. pull.. pull.. pull..”

I was urged to keep a constant pace

this was the life I was regulated to

I was once a simple farmer

who loved my wife and my children

I couldn’t wipe tears on my grainy face

had they been burned alive?

had they miraculously escaped the terror?

I opened my eyes from a dream

fiction always comes alive in sleep

today’s news is pushed beneath my door

I smell burnt flesh

screams pervade my reality

hundreds of bare feet pound in futile retreat

senseless are these radicals

who teach young boys to wield swords

my fingers sift through the ashes of a church

looking for any  remnant of life

the age old story on society overtaken by another

they called it “the spoils of war”

I call it senseless brutality

against peaceful  innocent victims

but then we live in an advanced age

“enlightenment” some call it

where civilization slides backwards

they inhale unjustified cruelty

the reclamation of barbarism

the true captives of a hellish purpose

 

Today’s prompt at Poets United is Captivity.

Too Young #terrorism #children #poetry

Chilled by the hawk’s distant cry

unwelcome wings on the horizon

life threatening wind approaches

I need no eagle eye

Frozen by the headlines

man sharpens cold steel

children trying their hand

paralyzed beyond my spine

Motionless I await

this storm front from Hell

sensible is lost in radical thought

people plead at heaven’s gate

*

Child beheads a Syrian captive.  Is this what our world wants 8-year-old children to do in their spare time????

Boys in all countries (including the US ) are indoctrinated as young as 8 to be gang members (which would include rape, drug dealing, killing). A patient of mine was 5 when he joined his gang.

 

 

 

Apocalypse Yesterday #news #humor #poetry

“Step Right Up, Sit Right Down

What we offer is for free

you simply give to us your hand

we take your soul and play the lottery”

*

the hawkers were at it again

dawn til dusk it’s always the same

they had to corner a billion or so

before the winter’s came

*

people by the month

in a long and steady line

you can wave at each other

Skype has a cadence to step in time

*

“Don’t take candy from a stranger”

mama’s instruction runs through my head

you may not be taking poison

but I assure you will be  dead

*

I looked in my cereal bowl

only three flakes one table-spoon of milk

my children’s tummies are screaming

they’re aching to be filled

*

“EXTRA, EXTRA  read all about it”

special’s for today

a loaf of rotten bread

new beheadings on display

*

Ebola has been countered

so the newscasters have us misled

politically they tell their lies

soothing our unease and dread

*

The circus will soon be coming

the tents are in our town

you have to be a magician

to keep the bayonets down

*

in the original story

four horsemen had a goal

all corners of the ravaged earth

to recieve disaster’s bowls

*

pestilence, we have so little

famine, it’s just a pinch

earthquakes and fires never

tornadoes theyr’e a cinch

*

Truthfully  what is there to fear

there’s forewarning on the news

and think of all the movies

they’ve stocked with ample clues

*

I really am not worried

were making out just fine

two boxes left of wheat chex

for milk we stand in line

*

the lines are getting longer

but not as long as some

I’ve heard in parts of Russia

they stand for weeks to come

when all of this is over

I’ll thankfully raise hat to hand

and pack the kids and what not

we’ll off to Disneyland

***

This is meant to be dark humor, but if you don’t notice a shred of truth just look at the news, go to the grocery store where cereal boxes have shrunk in size (twice is less than 2 months). Ebola and beheadings are serious issues that “they” are having a hard time finding a big enough carpet to sweep this stuff under.

Posted at Godinterest.com

News at 11 #poetry #drought #photography

and you

as the sun sets on the occurences of today

are you putting you little ones to bed

contemplating the school year ahead

are you checking your records

to make sure you have enough flu vaccine

reading up on the Ebola scene

are you shaking your head at the

26 page syllabus of first year spanish

as you finish your third ice cream dish

one your knees Thursday night

praying that none of your friends will have the shock

being the latest Christians on Friday’s  chopping block

and how will you deal with the news

what items would you run and take

preparing for  another San Francisco earthquake

you must know that water sources are failing

politics in California turn off the spout

no water for your family to drink out

food and dairy replaced by weeds

feed your family from a box

this fall don’t expect more expect high costs

disease can travel on any transportation

were so filled with misinformation

I turned off our news for the last and final time

I’ll check France 24  overseas at Nine

Valley water in a good year