war (Remove filter)
England [Stop the Boots!]
…and did those boots in World War time,
Stamp around England’s pleasant land:
And were those Blackshirt fascist sods,
From Cable Street off-seen!
Never did we countenance a time,
When journalists would see th’ Old Bill!
At dawn, a-knocking on their doors,
For telling truth, with fear instilled!
We must not cease Evil to Fight,,
Nor must my pen sleep in my hand...
Monday 2nd September 2024 12:48 pm
Business (A friendly face)
I took one in the back,
And fell down on the ground.
I sought a friendly face,
And saw one that I knew,
Approaching me at pace:
A pal from student days,
Now on the other side.
‘I’m not to blame,’ he says,
And shoots, in the same place.
‘It’s business, it’s not you.’
His words seemed quite profound,
(I don't think I replied)
Yet they took me aback,
As I lay th...
Friday 30th August 2024 9:59 pm
A Fault In The Architecture
I sat in the cafe as I had when a boy.
Sitting as if I'd see the world as I did back then,
When the steam from my tea cup
snatched a rainbow from the window light
It seemed the world was full of colour
But, now the cafe was derelict, charcoaled.
The window lay in shards & fragments
The colours of the rainbow, repelling
There was rot in the architecture
of both ...
Friday 16th August 2024 10:27 am
Kursk (A provocation!)
We feel bad about our provocation;
We didn’t mean to cause you such upset.
Of course, you are innocent and blameless;
Our troops were only sent in for a bet.
Our little strategic incursion
Was even-handed and sincerely meant.
There was no wish to violate your borders;
No malice was contained in our intent.
Wait a second, though! At provocation,
You’ve shown you...
Saturday 10th August 2024 8:30 am
An Airshow Progressive
The Farnborough Airshow is much more than that. It is one of the countries largest Arms Fairs. The deals are made beyond the public gaze, the corporate days outnumber the public days. This poem relates to the masquerade that is The Farnborough Air Show and Murder Incorporated.
Women, Children, Ice cream, Balloons,
excitement, enticement, sonic booms...
Shattered Stree...
Saturday 20th July 2024 5:24 pm
Ice Cream Van
That jangling tune
told of sweet times ahead
Children playing with hosepipes
on hot summer streets
and gleaming bikes ridden
across freshly swept pavements
How the ice cream van
sparked joy and hope
O, the heady idyl
of childhood…
Now the ice cream van
toils a different purpose
macabre and tuneless
its contents chilling
The limbs of children
parts of mothers
Lifeless figures...
Wednesday 10th July 2024 4:27 pm
Haveli
The house stands quiet behind its useless walls,
as if a wedding cake cut but not devoured.
Discarded tools and children’s toys, the crumbs of life.
Inside, a stagnant calm of dust breathes for no-one.
Patches of earth curled with weeds.
The scratchings of beasts consumed by men
score the kill pen floor. Men who ate with fingers
greased with blood and vengeful mind...
Monday 8th July 2024 4:13 pm
A thousand faces
These eyes now laid on natures’ wings
have seen the sum of hateful things,
enough that English Winter Skies
as Pale as death cannot disguise
the salty sorrow in a tear,
intrusive nightmares ever near.
An empty voice shocked free from words
which when it speaks is never heard.
Yet by the River from the hide
I saw a bird and almost cried,
as through its feathered curtain shone
a ...
Friday 5th July 2024 7:04 am
Aabey 96 ( a mountain walk )
Buried in her wedding dress
the tomb a ruin now,
cracked open is what once was blessed
where dogs and vermin prowl.
On fertile steps of Grove and Vine
where boots so cruelly stamped,
once yours, now theirs’, that once was mine,
too many tribes encamped.
But hearts and minds don't document
with paper, pen and deed,
what's taken, forced, was never lent
...Monday 1st July 2024 1:15 pm
Evacuation
Some people say home’s where the heart is found;
I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the being there,
The rooted opposite of somewhere else.
Fond memories may have tipped the scales
In favour of this slow, contented place:
The local shops, the chatter’s usual sound,
The morning stroll to coffee on the square,
The precious banality of passers-by,
Though each slab of this ecosphere wi...
Friday 28th June 2024 3:25 pm
1941, the 22nd of June, The Sky With the Rising Moon...
1941, the 22nd of June,
The sky with the rising moon,
At 4 in the early morning,
Without any warning,
When children peacefully slept,
Hitler the most horrible plan kept.
It was Sunday.
Today it’s the saddest day
In the history
Of my long-suffering country.
Hitler broke the non-aggression pact
And my motherland was attacked.
The Great Patriotic War had started
With a ...
Saturday 22nd June 2024 4:58 am
Summit
‘Look at the big picture,’
Cried the man in the suit.
So I took his advice
And ignored the sniper,
The stiff, the nightly raid,
The trivia of grief.
I turned to the summit,
Its polished chandeliers,
Its underarm hygiene,
Its on-tap refreshment,
(‘Still or sparkling, Madam?),
While, in the dregs of war,
The uninvited crouch
And hope the shells will miss.
Friday 21st June 2024 8:14 am
Hebridean Graves
A Sea Loch Graveyard walled and gated
hues of purple peated earth,
the stones stand stoic, weather dated,
washed up from their briny birth.
Some names unknown "A Sailor" lies,
in silence resting side by side.
Adrift they came from distant skies
as tears that fell, though never cried.
On other shores long lives lived out
to wonder at what might have been,
...Tuesday 18th June 2024 1:57 pm
Silent Harbour
Borrow against your future days
that this moment ever lives,
for what such credit takes away
the joy of now forgives.
We cannot touch what has gone
nor conjure what's to come,
our memories may live on and on
what's lost might yet be won.
The silent harbour once a throng
with hope and fearful men,
sits peaceful now and has done long
for what was done ...
Friday 7th June 2024 9:34 am
Episode
My life force has gone
whatever confidence I had is crushed
I cannot hear my voice
I cannot hear any voice
except panic
and anger
I am lost in a street walking the wrong way
shoulders bumped and jarred
I move to the wall
I press hard against it
It pushes me into the flow
my fear turns to violence
There is no reason to lash out
no reason to h...
Wednesday 5th June 2024 1:55 pm
Thank you
These dunes have been draped with flesh,
some on summer days surrendering to lovers
some under the gun by blood brothers.
The days between then and now are in the sand,
each footprint, each drop of joy and blood still here.
Children rush the shoreline chased by foamy waves.
We built monuments and carved men’s names
where beautiful children share happy games.
Beyon...
Tuesday 4th June 2024 8:35 am
Stolen dog
A soldier kicked down the door and stole a yelping dog,
the children sobbed while their mother cursed god.
Later the widows were blown out, the roof glowed red
against a ghostly bone white moon.
The dog curled itself to sleep beneath a different flag
after filling its belly for the first time in weeks.
This poem is based on an event I witnessed in the H2 area ...
Sunday 2nd June 2024 5:14 pm
God Didn't Know What to Say
People are cheaper, things are more expensive,
With a lack of spirituality, men are more offensive.
Ducky lips and selfie, a bare ass,
They forgot the beautiful word “lass”.
Passing by the poor people, watching mangy cats
Their faces remind me of dangerous rats.
His dad is a deputy, he studied in the States,
Now he is responsible for others' fates.
Someone is fi...
Sunday 2nd June 2024 8:03 am
Post Traumatic Civilian
There's no stars out in this darkened sky.
As a curl up, on the hard floor to lie
I cannot lay safe, cozied on this soft bed.
Not with the noises and memories floating in my damn head.
The cracks and the bangs that rang out in the night.
Times I saw many men fall, disappear out of sight.
Was that today, yesterday, or maybe tomorrow?
No bravery left here there's only raw sorrow.
The noise...
Tuesday 30th April 2024 5:26 pm
Draft Dodger
Are we allowed to be afraid?
Is it compulsory to fight?
Many would choose to be elsewhere
When faced with a foe and its might.
Are we a traitor if we leave,
Or a patriot if we stay?
It is no shame to show contempt
For warfare, and to keep away.
And ‘pacifist’, that grubby word
That hardly dares to speak its name?
Why should we join the ranks of hate
Or pl...
Monday 29th April 2024 8:24 am
Lest we Forget
So I sit alone, cold on a bench, world's away from my comrades, that lie dead in the trench.
These hands that saw violence, these eyes growing dark, this world bathed in silence, a new journey to embark.
We did it for kings, we followed the crown, we rushed from the boats, I saw many drown.
They pinned a shiny medal, right there on my chest, and I heard the bell toll as we laid them to rest.
...
Sunday 14th April 2024 6:51 pm
What's Of The Heart
What’s of the eyes if not to see -
a darkness on the land,
perpetuated by a world
that will not understand.
What’s of the ears if not to hear -
a silence through the night.
A deafness born of leaders with
no care of what is right.
What’s of the lips if not to speak -
a fading muffled voice,
drowned out by those in power who
refuse the people’s choice.
...Saturday 30th March 2024 9:33 pm
The Washing on the Line
The washing on the line is mine, is mine;
The washing on the line, it dries, it dries.
My best friend down the road, he dies, he dies;
Our enemy of old, he lies, he lies.
The washing on the line, it sighs, it sighs.
The washing on the line is mine, is mine;
The washing on the line, it blows, it blows.
Desire for revenge, it grows, it grows;
The guilty man nearby, he cr...
Saturday 30th March 2024 8:20 am
Silhouettes
Death transcends the toll of time.
Stands beneath a smoke-filled sky.
Spirits rise up from the past,
row by row from first to last.
Like silhouettes of lifeless trees
against the sun, no foot can flee.
Then sink they into desert sand…
as hate consumes the life of man.
Saturday 16th March 2024 10:46 am
The Gap
Don’t shoot!
Stop the violence,
Stop the killing.
Don’t waste your time with gods,
Or clerics on the greasy pole,
Or warped ideology
Which tells you what to think,
Or the cult of the madmen,
The travelling circus,
The usual suspects,
The old men in suits,
The gap –
Between the theory and the practice.
Be yourself;
Lay down your arms,
Reach out your hand...
Tuesday 5th March 2024 8:26 am
For Peace
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
Wednesday 28th February 2024 11:37 am
Two Years On - Poems on the War in Ukraine
As you may have seen on the News and Features page, I have compiled a selection of fifty poems to mark the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Some of these poems will be familiar to regular contributors, but a number have not yet featured on the WOL blog.
This is a private print and not available for general sale, but I would be pleased to send a free PDF copy by e-mail to anyb...
Thursday 22nd February 2024 5:08 pm
Time Passes
‘Time passes,’ said the man at our table.
‘People want something new.’ I guess he’s right.
It's the prevailing theory round here.
‘The same old faces,’ opined another;
‘You know, Zelensky. Always wants money.’
And ‘here’ is anywhere, maybe everywhere.
Time passes. All of us know that feeling:
You turn a new page in a calendar
Or put away Christmas decorations.
At cricket...
Friday 16th February 2024 5:41 pm
Doomsday
Doomsday
Grey clouds roll in
The Sun sets in
Long ago was the summer of smiles
Now dark brooding anguish riles
Only the forgotten battlefields remember
The light green and the fond Heather
While with winds kiss
The clock winds and begins to hiss
The ticking is louder than ever now
As we wind our lives further down
While far away the threat is real
...Friday 9th February 2024 2:34 pm
Bad News
A morning to freeze the spirits.
As they shiver in hollowed times,
Workers stamp and spit used breath.
At the corner I see two men:
Their eyes wet from today’s bad news.
‘You can always tell,’ says my guide;
'They both had sons where it happened.'
I try to do an interview:
Get short shrift. Understandably.
As we leave, one of them calls out:
‘Poetry is dead. Art is dead...
Thursday 8th February 2024 8:17 am
Queues
We queued at the supermarket;
I saw that everyone was dead.
And yet they were still standing.
Out of defiance? Contempt?
Perhaps just out of habit.
We queued at the bakery,
And in the rows of cakes
We saw the faces of the fallen:
Unmoved, at last at peace.
We queued at the bus stop.
A passer-by called out to us
And we called back,
But no one was alive
...Saturday 3rd February 2024 8:48 am
Dove
A viper slides its way beneath the grass;
The animals of prey are on the prowl.
The innocent and helpless stand no chance
Against the savage tastes of hawk and owl.
Upstairs, forbidden lovers take the plunge;
Their beads of sticky sweat adorn the bed.
She’s fast asleep while he boosts up his pack;
Outside waits a procession of the dead.
The hunters beat the heavin...
Monday 1st January 2024 8:59 am
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