the feldwebel became a general
the campdoctor, a professor
and we the jews - it’s banal
we stayed jewish - no error

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This poppy was recently made for me as an impromptu gift, by a young lady who had been researching her family tree, and had found that a male relative had served in the RAF in WW2. I will always treasure it.

I wrote the following probably ten years ago.

On Armistice Day, (which, by now, all should know,

Marks the end of World War Number One),

I remembered Them, as I sat...

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I'm reposting this poem with the audio I recorded of it (as a song) to commemorate my father and the other soldiers who fought during WW2 in Asia - The Forgotten Army of Burma - for the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day

The Bayonet In The Shed

He put it there in forty nine,

in a woodworm riddled drawer,

wrapped it in a greasy rag.

A remnant from the war.

On top of it he laid h...

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Bevin Boy

Ernest Bevin got his pound of flesh

as I sucked on my Woodbine,

one of the ‘lucky’ ten percent

who were standing there in line

waiting to be conscripted -

but they decided to assign

me to a living hell

and send me down the mine.

So I toiled for years in darkness

and breathed in black diamond dust,

until my back was broken

along with all the t...

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Biplanes Attack!

The roar of the Nazi automatic guns

That threw their exploding flak shells

Mixed with the shout of our engines

And bone dry rattle of our machine guns

Gave the French battle scene life

As we strafed and bombed our enemy

To give our troops more time

Our biplanes were made to fight the last war

Not a Blitzkreig but a target was a target

We went after th...

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Armistice (Gods Of War)

The ink upon this document
dries twice as fast as blood
that seeps into this continent
and mixes with the mud.
The war to end all wars they say,
though many have their doubts
that a piece of paper, signed today,
will quell the zealots shouts.

So they dance beneath the spires
of Britannia’s grieving towns
and let the mourning of sad shires
taint her flimsy ta...

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While I walk down the middle of the icy road by the park in the snow, I wonder how many hearts were broken on that Baltic night. 9k dead, each a family member, husband, wife, son, daughter.

In my minds eye, I see the Captain standing on the tilting side of his ship, the Gustloff. Fire axe in hand, he tries in vain to shatter safety glass on the viewing deck. Many people are...

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The soldiers of Nippon descended upon Asia in a vast horde of death.                               

Fighting anyone who dared oppose them, killing their enemies without mercy. Destroying everything from isolated houses to entire cities.                                        

Decades of looking inwards bred an evil military dictatorship.                                 ...

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Yankee terror bombers fly overhead to bomb our cities and our military targets.

Stop them! Quick, into our Messerschmitt 109G’s.                                                                          

Take off; rise up to do battle with the infidels armed with their fifty calibre super heavy machine guns.                                                 ...

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Broken warplane falls wreathed in smoke.

Me with two German bullets in my chest.

How it hurts.

Funny how I feel alive right now, before I die.

Was I dead when we met?

Something precious died inside when you left me.

So I joined the air force and became a pilot.

People feted me wherever I went.

Don’t you know I shot two Huns down?

Then numbe...

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Damn yankee Mustang gonna be a real bastard and blow some krauts outa the fucking sky. Try and stop me you mothers! 50cal gunning you down, got many of your kindred by my shells. Always escape with my life. No 109 or 190 ever came close to nailing me. I'm not called Chuck Yeager! Hell no!

I was in Zemke's Wolf Pack. I died in a field near Crewe, England. No Nazi ever got m...

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SNIPER

Sitting patiently atop his tree camouflaged

against the enemy, the sniper waits.

For three days and three nights he has waited

to do his duty for Imperial Japan.

Along the trail walks the enemy. Alert and ready

but not looking up, for this is where the sniper is,

waiting, watching, ready right now.

Levelling his gun, he takes careful aim.

T...

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ALMOST ASHES

A room, just a room. Feel the sense of history

here, heavy as lead and as poignant as pain.

Aspects come into focus, heavy thick carpets,

waxed English tables. Silence. Total.

A view on a room, from the doorway after.

What went on here? What decisions were made?

History’s biggest gamble, to fail paid in blood

and men and tears.

To suc...

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