(Catherine the Great’s statue is removed from its place in Odesa following an on-line poll)

To pacify our much-bombarded town,

Catherine’s statue has been taken down:

A nod to the invader’s former might,

Now banished from the population’s sight.

Some will object – ‘let history remain’,

But others think of violence and pain,

With all that this construction represents,

R...

Read and leave comments (2)

If you cry out loud that you favour peace,

A lot of people look at you and smile

And mark you as naïve and pat your head.

Yet surely peace should be the normal way;

Backers of war should justify their stance,

The four-star pundits, dealing arms of death,

Indoctrinating young (and mostly) men

To jump to commands and to kill each other

And all who block their path. The road t...

Read and leave comments (5)

I fight your battles when you want,

Patrolling the darkness of your mind.

I perform dirty deeds that you shun

And expect my recompense in kind.

I fire your guns and launch grenades;

I land your missiles on the spot.

I lay out bodies in neat rows

To leave in unnumbered holes to rot.

Though I’m rough-edged and cynical,

I carry out the work you ask.

I tidy...

Read and leave comments (6)

It used to be the highlight of our year;

Big dipper rides plunged down into a void,

For just one moment blanking out the world,

With all its boredom and unuttered cares.

Among the larks and games and candy floss,

The funfair has a feeling of escape.

At first, war seemed the same: a chance to swap

The daily skin for something bright and new.

So here we are, but no one wants ...

Read and leave comments (4)

As you may know, I have just published a collection of poems on the war in Ukraine, entitled 'The Shape of Ukraine'. There are forty poems in the book, many of which have been shared with WOL readers, and WOL was kind enough to feature a news item on the collection.

https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=126470

In many ways it was sad to have to write these poems, but ...

Read and leave comments (4)

The generals fry in their fat,

The spokesman spouts his usual junk;

The sergeant’s barking will fall flat,

The new recruit has trashed his bunk.

The rumpus at the front is still;

Noise of mortal combat ceases.

Exhausted soldiers, trained to kill,

Break their weapons into pieces.

They hug their foes and swap their hopes

Of lives soon filled with joy and art;

...

Read and leave comments (3)

In a way, it reminds me of my brother,

Who lived for seven days in nineteen forty-eight.

A young life was snuffed out, barely begun,

And Mum and Dad’s heartbreak never really healed.

George. I still have his birth certificate.

Medicine was less advanced back then

But everyone involved did their level best

To keep him in this world. No one was to blame.

Unlike in today’s new...

Read and leave comments (14)

A missile fell on to this Polish place;

The media rushed to report the case.

We screamed: ‘Help! Article Five! We are doomed!’

The end of our selfish existence loomed.

But this has turned out as a false alarm,

And none of us this end will come to harm,

Unlike two poor devils who are no more;

The latest victims of this evil war.

Collateral damage their final lot,

They pai...

Read and leave comments (6)

Species from all around the globe:

An elephant, a polar bear,

And here, an unexploded bomb.

Hang about, what’s that doing there?

A tranquil spot during the week;

The animals make not a sound.

But the tail end of a rocket,

Protruding coldly from the ground,

Reveals the darker side to truth,

As people pass with bike and pram.

An enemy would like us dead;

Tr...

Read and leave comments (12)

I wanted to write a song for Ukraine,

But I gave up almost straight away.

An expert was required, ideally

Someone who would burrow into corners;

Go beneath the surface to smell the soil,

Who would press wounded flesh and procreate

And clasp lost strangers to their belly’s bulge.

But how could I find a person like this?

Advertising? Perhaps. But in real life,

I knew I had...

Read and leave comments (5)

There was a misunderstanding.

Some words were exchanged,

Translation errors, perhaps;

And then it happened.

A mistake, I suppose.

A pity really, we were doing all right.

A few problems, of course,

But nothing terminal.

Until now.

Just before it landed,

The man next door reminded me

That tomorrow is his birthday.

Looking out, not much going on;

...

Read and leave comments (2)

That’s what I thought, arriving in Kyiv.

It was December and minus fifteen.

‘This is nothing,’ said the driver. It felt

Like something. Hat, gloves and scarf were no use.

The hotel was marvellously porous,

Rooms glacial, the restaurant shivered

Behind flapping Perspex windows. The wind

Reached all protected parts. The next morning,

To the lecture. Everyone double-wrapped,

Read and leave comments (4)

Just like the bodies, plucked and sacrificed

In dirty factories and down in mines,

Like frightened masses, banished to the dark,

Or the timebound terror of the trenches,

Here come the foot soldiers, their destinies

Already marked. Convenient agents

In the hands of the men who know better.

It was ever thus. Some are dead, others

Beyond hope, the rest numbered and dated.

...

Read and leave comments (4)

Day after day we watch Ukraine,

And feel the anger and the pain;

We feel the pity and the sorrow,

The fear of what may come tomorrow.

We wonder what the next months hold,

As people fight the winter cold;

We wish that we could end by magic

This wretched mess, insane and tragic,

And turn to silence every gun,

Which shoots beneath the chilly sun,

Wipe off the b...

Read and leave comments (2)

It’s strange how we view war from far away.

Distance lends itself to rage and anger,

To dollops of easy indignation,

Fuelled by being powerless, I suppose.

For those on the spot, it’s the practical,

The workaday, which occupies the mind:

Filling in the forms, feeding survivors,

Visiting hospital, booking the hearse.

The task of clearing out dead neighbours’ homes

Damps d...

Read and leave comments (4)

I didn’t deserve the love that you gave:

I didn’t deserve your extinguished heart.

I wish I had been the one to behave

That last time before fate tore us apart.

As one young child is pulled from the rubble,

I realise that you were crushed beneath.

Another search is not worth the trouble;

I’ll find a still spot to lay down my wreath.

I hear the sirens and look to t...

Read and leave comments (4)

There is no rubble in my street,

No bombs, no shells and no rockets.

The people have their fill to eat,

Cash is bulging in their pockets.

Down our way the lights are shining

And the windows remain unsmashed.

Our access to fun’s not declining;

No hopes for the future are dashed.

All sick and injured are treated,

Not shot and abandoned for dead.

Our wealth is ...

Read and leave comments (3)

It’s the rifle-butt nature of all this:

Sit down, shut up, sign here, do as you’re told.

We talk about land grabs, but this is, well,

An extortion, of dignity and heart.

There’s a bash for the scammers in the North,

And jobs for the boys. Lot’s of them, no doubt.

Imagine this: ‘Yes, I’d love to be ruled

By the people who blew this place to bits

And killed or maimed our frie...

Read and leave comments (4)

What should be a simple counting of heads

Is here a pratfall buried with the bones

Dumped near the fenced-off railway sheds.

For freedom’s optimistic tidings

Are out of fashion in these parts,

Their wagons mothballed in the sidings.

In place of a future based on trust,

The polished tracks will soon become

A instrument of power’s grasping lust.

This will no...

Read and leave comments (3)

I knew this one. In different times

She could have led so many lives:

Doctor, artist, mother, teacher,

One of a band of merry wives.

A guess, of course. She was so young,

And now is hauled out of this pit.

Laid out for ever in a shroud;

Deprived of all her charm and wit.

This place concealed a tragic tale;

A savage tumult oozing waste.

Like her, each one had...

Read and leave comments (11)

They’ve done a runner; thank goodness they’re gone.

Let’s face it, they were a pain, all summer:

Every morning, their ugly mugs on view.

We remembered their sort from holidays:

Stripped to the waist, with their lobster tans,

Letting off steam until the small hours

And dumping all their rubbish when they left.

They puffed on stinking fags and terrorised

The local girls, wher...

Read and leave comments (4)

The Big Men limber up for war,

Showing off their guns and rockets;

The Big Men strut around the town,

Looted cash stuffed in their pockets.

The Big Men are toning their muscles,

To beat their captives into shape;

The Big Men snigger at reports

Of instances of wartime rape.

The Big Men hide behind the lines,

To dodge the other side’s attack;

The Big Men’...

Read and leave comments (6)

A quiet little man,

Lurking in the corner;

Keeps all his powder dry,

Looks no one in the eye.

A quiet little man,

Is pacing up and down,

Dying to go public

On the next big subject.

A quiet little man,

Projects his tiny voice;

Points his jabbing finger

At victims of his choice.

A quiet little man

Deals from his wily pack.

He smiles upon his f...

Read and leave comments (3)

Late one evening, not doing much,

I glimpse the latest news on screen.

Soldiers from Ukraine, dismembered

At the front, battle to insert

The cold stumps of their missing legs

Into new replacement hollows:

Each faltering step agony,

Their cries the rage of raw courage.

All hanker to re-join the fight

And kick the cheap destroyer out.

Anger swells, somewhere. They shoul...

Read and leave comments (1)

We strolled down the streets of Kyiv

One balmy August afternoon,

Past burned-out skeletons of tanks,

Which might as well live on the moon.

We understand this rough display,

To boost a noble people’s mood,

But battles rage not far away,

Where wrecks like this are caked in blood.

Conflict is a harsh performance;

You enemy is marked as bad.

But truth, uncomfort...

Read and leave comments (2)

Dawn is another day, we say;

It has to be a time of hope,

The vanquishing of night,

The promise of the new,

The turning of a page,

An exit from our dreams.

But is that really what it means?

The start of the day, in some way,

Does nothing but confirm our fears.

It is proof that nothing changes,

That night cannot be chased away,

That dread and cunning stalk our...

Read and leave comments (3)

It is a brutal game, this war,

But certain lines you do not cross.

Conventions have to be maintained;

It’s difficult to say much more.

When you see this, when you see this –

You know damned well of what I speak –

No human souls should be hung out

Unclaimed and near to the abyss.

Someone will try to wriggle out

Of these evil exhibitions,

Claim force majeure o...

Read and leave comments (3)

Through the spectral quiet

Of this deserted place,

The tanks go rolling by

In their odd little race.

It’s hardly a surprise

That they proceed so fast;

There’s nothing here to see,

Since that almighty blast.

So as they disappear

Along the dusty road,

The silence will renew

Its dark, despondent load.

Read and leave comments (5)

‘Come see my new blockbuster’,

The film director smiled.

‘It’s about a sinner

And all those he defiled.

It’s about the cities,

Reduced to smithereens;

It’s about the soldiers,

Cut down in their teens.

It’s about the people,

Running for their lives;

It’s about an exodus

Of children and of wives.

It’s about the cowards

Who fire long range shells;

Read and leave comments (6)

(On 21 July 2022, it was reported that 15,000 Russians have died in Ukraine and 45,000 have been wounded).

Fifteen thousand Russians dead in Ukraine;

Innocents, for the most part, made guilty

By the vicious vanity of old men,

Using the war like a wild young lover,

To prove they can do it, still get it up.

In their pointless, far-off rumpus, blood spills

As one hundre...

Read and leave comments (6)

Though every nation’s shape must be unique,

The outline of Ukraine attracts our gaze.

A sense of the vulnerable protrudes

From this quiet space, once so short on hate.

This is where fear comes in; borders store

Culture, landscape, language and traditions,

Encircling the rich plains of history.

More than that, they preserve our memories,

Of sunny dreams, glistening on water.

Read and leave comments (2)

Let’s consider this, just for a moment:

Hundreds are slaughtered in attacks on schools,

On apartment blocks, or shopping centres.

Yet still we call it this fancy name: War.

We hand out medals, salute the stupid,

And march up and down wearing silly clothes.

If I sent bombs towards civilians,

I should go down as a mass murderer;

But in this mad world, I am a hero,

Doused w...

Read and leave comments (2)

They’re dying every minute in Ukraine.

They die up at the front and in the towns,

Cheered on by generals and circus clowns,

Who push the envelope to entertain

With their own brand of tragedy and pain.

They’re dying every minute in Ukraine.

Lives may be swapped for twenty feet of land,

Transactions nobody can understand,

Fought out in summer heat or pouring rain.

It ...

Read and leave comments (4)

Sometimes, in villages, you hear old men

Who tut that things are not how they should be.

They knew the boy. It had been a close call.

A few months before, he was still at school,

A cheeky sort, though decent in the round,

But one morning, flaunting teenage stubble,

He joined the beards and testosterone.

The bullet was not long coming. Alex,

Known as ‘tree trunk’, once the l...

Read and leave comments (3)

The war does not discriminate;

Fists clenched, it grits decaying teeth

And laughs its cocky, cackling laugh

Before the tanks and missiles strike.

Onlookers trawl chunks of horror

From the ocean of public grief,

Where treasured souvenirs are crushed

And no one can identify

The charred remains in plastic bags.

Yet those round here whisper a name:

A woman, a teacher by t...

Read and leave comments (3)

I curse the bloody things sometimes.

Last Monday at the Shopping Mall

I grabbed one but a wheel was jammed.

The next one veered off to the right

And the last trolley in the row

Simply collapsed before my eyes.

I went outside to the car park

And spotted a shiny model

In the far corner. Just the job,

I thought, and marched off to claim it.

Light and mobile, it was perfe...

Read and leave comments (5)

Close now. I think. It’s hard to tell sometimes.

War takes away perspective with its taste

Of danger, its relentless jabs of fear.

Yes, we can see them. Just across the field,

Behind the trees but not quite out range.

Easy prey for our telescopic sights.

They’ll probably never know what hit them;

Two of them are down, the rest run away.

Bloody cowards, just like we wou...

Read and leave comments (2)

The war is sucking up our splendid youth.

They’re racing to the front; they won’t come back.

Each town and village starts to empty out,

As friends and classmates go on the attack.

They’re fighting for our dignity and state

Of freedom and of happiness pursued,

But consequences, each one plainly knows,

Could be unmentionably vile and rude.

In these now quiet streets the ...

Read and leave comments (5)

I wonder if those who lay the mines down

Stay put and wait for victims to approach,

Or, with a surreptitious grin, retreat.

As for the victims, no imagining

The horror of their plight will bring them back.

The miner and mined have done their duty.

In moral terms, they seem so far apart:

One bad, one innocent. But consider.

They are both under orders not to think:

Playthi...

Read and leave comments (6)

A hundred days have passed since it began.

So anyone who came of age since then

Will know of nothing but this raging war,

Impardonably thrust into our lives.

Are all attempts to look beyond such days,

Anonymously scribbled on the wall,

A futile antidote to these cruel ways?

Or something sinister which may recall

A game which every canny person plays:

To test how far the ...

Read and leave comments (1)

The look on Mum’s face told its own story;

Our dad’s weekly letter had failed to arrive.

In its place, as sombre as a scarecrow,

Was a black-bordered missive from the state.

When we left, it seemed like an adventure:

Hugs and backslaps and putting on a smile.

Then the train rides, through cold nights and long days.

I don’t know where we are. They all seem nice

But they spea...

Read and leave comments (2)

They’re performing a foxtrot in Davos,

The great and the good are crossing the floor;

While deep in Ukraine, with little to gain,

The dance is wilder than ever before.

The movers and shakers are out in force,

They move their careers and their buyback bids;

While near to Kyiv, with little to give,

Old jackets are shaken to feed the kids.

Designer shoppers and vegan...

Read and leave comments (10)

Good afternoon, you’ve come from far and wide;

In Mariupol, I shall be your guide.

Do not believe the lying foreign press,

Who will pretend this place is one big mess.

Just look at the improvements we have made:

All that extra space, if a bit less shade.

(And any minor damage has been done

By outside agents who have cut and run).

You see that souvenir shop with its flags?

Read and leave comments (4)

Many here will go to heaven,

Though some of us will go to hell.

These places stand on worlds apart,

But who does badly? Who does well?

We think that sinners should be sent

To purgatory down below,

But in a war all lines are blurred;

Good people may not even know

That they deserve an afterlife

Of peace and comfort and of joy,

While devils rise in our esteem

Read and leave comments (2)

You wake again in dawn’s reluctant light;

The neighbour’s wife and youngster have both fled.

He shivers as he clings hold of his gun

And, unrefreshed, falls on his lonely bed.

War, looking back, can be a lucky break.

Men who once cleaned up a factory floor,

When it is over, build a better life;

At present, it’s a terrifying chore

Of trembling hands, impending...

Read and leave comments (2)

I felt a numbness after the event:

A single shot, and this was just a boy,

Barely out of school. He lay, open-mouthed,

And I thought of his family and friends,

His teenage passions, posters on the wall,

His portrait of pride, hanging in the hall.

Suddenly, my mates were surrounding me -

We had blown a hole in enemy lines -

Slapping my back, but I was now alone.

One may a...

Read and leave comments (4)

We should not yield to anger,

Nor trespass upon kindness.

There are other ways to staunch the boiling blood.

The sight of yesterday’s Victory parade,

With its wind-up, flat-pack military,

Its gross salutes and guns and strut,

Its little man made out of wax,

Talking for ages through his nut,

Made me grimace at the waste

And at the tragic, pointless load

Of fresh-dead b...

Read and leave comments (6)

I thought he would be giving us a wave,

But no. An old gent, looking quite cheesed off.

As an individual, he had good points,

But I don’t want his statue in this town.

He has too much baggage; I’m short on tact.

Anyway, we do not need more clutter.

These damned edifices are everywhere:

Footballers, dogs, forgotten men in wigs.

In some spots you can hardly move for them.

...

Read and leave comments (4)

I once passed a little village

Where locals met and chatted in the square;

Some, most withdrawn, played cards and smoked.

The place was poor but free from fear or care.

When required, the work was done;

Winters were hard but held a certain charm.

Then all too soon the tanks rolled in;

There was no time to ring out the alarm.

Now, though the buildings are long gone...

Read and leave comments (5)

Stop. Go back to your make-believe,

For what is real is hard to bear.

In normal times we take a stroll

And look around and sniff the air,

But now imagination rules,

No entertainment lives out there.

Three heroes in their sailor suits

Dance to the tunes of ‘On the Town’,

While outside bombs and missiles land

And innocence comes crashing down.

The burned-out s...

Read and leave comments (8)

Not many shepherds live around these parts,

But down the road the buildings are ablaze.

In semi-darkness, citizens with pails

Run like hares towards the smoky haze.

I stop one in passing. ‘I’m Jan,’ he says.

His features throb with duty and despair;

His younger friend stands polishing a gun.

Our lives are here, but could be anywhere.

Read and leave comments (4)

I popped out to the shops to buy some bread;

When I returned my family were dead.

A missile had destroyed our neighbourhood;

From this time onwards, nothing will be good.

I cannot understand these men of war;

I cannot comprehend what this is for.

We had no quarrel with our former friends;

How can these means advance their twisted ends?

Were they at war, my children and my w...

Read and leave comments (11)

Knock, knock
Can you hear me?
Please let me in
I'll save you from God
And convert you to sin

I won't abandon 
Or show you no care
I'll give you free horns
So you know that I'm there!

I'll speak in wry tongues
Only you understand
And tattoo your soul 
With my 666 brand!

I'll make you new shoes
(On the hoof, as it were)
You'll be able to trot
Through my pit of de...

Read and leave comments (6)

On “Victory Day”  Knee deep in blood

The arms and limbs of the dead

Climb up you

In day and night terrors.

Murdered by you

Mothers

Fathers

Lovers

Sisters

brothers

children

&

Babies

All silenced by you

Your final solution…

Like the Jews in the ghetto.

All must go

But on your death bed

“Your god” whispers

Read and leave comments (2)

I want there to be a God.

I want there to be someone

I can pray to in hard times

And feel the warmth of family.

But when I see all this death,

All this doom and destruction

And reach out for some solace,

Who is there to answer me?

Religious leaders bang on

And pass round the piled-high plate,

But can they stop the nightmare

And bring back sons and daughte...

Read and leave comments (7)

The caption caught my eye with morning tea;

Tearful in woe, she loomed large on the screen.

The opened plastic bag revealed her son;

Her heartbreak and distress was hard to bear.

The brother held her in a sad caress;

Distraught, they parried questions from the press.

And I was torn. Should this not be discreet,

This tragedy, and not for public view?

Then someone else, ...

Read and leave comments (8)

When the rain stops, and the clouds part,

We venture out to take a look,

And for one brief moment wallow

In some space of blessed respite.

A shower has freshened up this place;

The violent mist has melted

Into compost’s damp aroma,

Birdsong breaks the tuneless silence.

The lives not lived, through their absence,

Remind us of the dry prelude,

Crackling in heat and nois...

Read and leave comments (5)

It wasn’t that complicated,

But it had to be authentic.

No point in actors playing dead.

Think about it! They’ll sneeze or twitch

As the cameras start rolling

And give the whole damn game away.

Luckily we had true patriots,

Prepared to sacrifice their lives,

Ready to jump in plastic bags

And take a bullet in the head.

Thousands were queueing round the block.

Cheere...

Read and leave comments (8)

#withUkraine 

Sssh, it's just the thunder 

My little girl

Pack a bag

Don't feel sad

I know Daddy has to stay 

But he's keeping 

The big bad wolves at bay

Don't cry, don't cry!

We'll say goodbye

He'll come back soon

And bring the moon

And we'll eat it

With a big, fat spoon!

That's more like it!

Giggles & smiles

Daddy can see them 

From miles &...

Read and leave comments (7)

Once upon a time
in a land not too far away 
People lived their lives
in a free and happy way 

Their leader a Prince amongst men
smart, brave and strong
His countrymen praised him
to them he could do no wrong 

Their close neighbours
came from “the land of make believe”
Ruled by a corrupt dictator
whose mission was to deceive

He was an monstrous ogre
a ruthless, greedy billionair...

Read and leave comments (3)

I didn’t have to do this job;

There were many things on offer,

But somehow I fell into it.

Most days it’s pretty routine:

Emptying the bins and the bags.

But yesterday, everything changed;

The cameras and microphones

Screamed indignation at the world,

While the crows and vultures circled

For a sniff of plastic-wrapped flesh.

Unfamiliar with our task,

We tidied up, ...

Read and leave comments (9)

The cars outside my window

Rumble to and from places

Without a care in the world

The children scream out Mehmet’s name

To come out to play

And when he does

Their little faces light up  

In Mariupol there is just silence

A bird sarcastically chirps

A dog sniffs round

But there is nothing to eat

The rumble of tanks has gone

The screams have ...

Read and leave comments (4)

Last week the pretty trees blossomed 
it felt like spring was in the air
Now it feels more like winter 
those fragile blooms scattered everywhere 

The sunshine brought out bright colours 
the butterflies, bees and flowers
Now the gloomy grey has returned
as we dodge harsh, wintry showers

------

If I could be a super hero
I would be the “Air of Spring” 
I’d sprinkle rays of hope an...

Read and leave comments (2)

Harrogate 21/3/22

It’s when I see the kites

a family are flying on the Stray

and notice how they glint in blue and gold

belatedly I catch on, how today

the bichrome of the flag of the Ukraine

has never been completely out of sight:

I’ve seen its vivid tones unrolled

not just where you’d expect:

flourished on the apex of a pole;

sellotaped to windows or on do...

Read and leave comments (1)

Missile Ways

What's up the sky and the Russian planes?

Before they're splashed by Stinger missiles

Whoosh! Missile away go go go kill a jet

Or chopper bring it down in the water

Let the crew freeze or drown

Some burn alive or get killed in the crash

How dare they invade Ukraine!

Teach them all a lesson forever

Some things not to be forgotten

Like Duncan in Dune 2021 d...

Read and leave comments (0)

Tupolev 141 Drone

Those old drones and planes and choppers all sat there just waiting to fly to war. Polish the metal fuel them up kick the tires away they go. No crew just needed just a memory of flight. Something part of their fabric like their wings or engine. A thing part spirit part elemental that exists beyond human comprehension though we built the machines.

Now t...

Read and leave comments (0)

Ongoing

The pretty lady screams

KILL ME NOW!!!

Putin’s bombs just murdered her baby

What life will the young mum have now?

In a shattered country war death hate killing

The bastard waited decades for this

And acted not caring the cost

Of Russia’s neighbouring nation

Plus thousands of dead Russian soldiers

Let the traumatised lady be an example

Read and leave comments (0)

By Sixes

With this book we have to make a difference

The weight of worry and seriousness is huge

This has not happened before not this way

And very soon all things could happen

They try to control it but can they?

How do you control so many soldiers?

Along with the other shooters

Planes ships launchers tanks and more

Myself I've never felt this way

Except briefly in t...

Read and leave comments (0)

Vivid Orange

Sky black burnt like sack cloth by the fires

Endless fires vivid orange flames

Always orange as is the screams

Now invisible for they are dead

Bodies black ash blown about

Wind whipped up by the flames

Orange wind this way and that

Like the war win lose win lose

On and on till it simply ended

All dead nobody left to fight

Pull the trigger dro...

Read and leave comments (0)

20 Cents

The guy gave the war concern 20 cents

This was enough to buy ten bullets

Which would kill ten enemy soldiers

If fired accurately by a good soldier

He'd give more if he could afford it

But he was jobless and skint

20 cents was all he could afford

Bread and coffee cost money

Even if cheaper thru the VA

His benefits were little not enough

So he...

Read and leave comments (0)

In Silence

The English ex SAS Special Forces member went to the Ukraine to fight. He travelled light and took just a small back pack and a head full of skills. A gun was a gun and a bayonet a bayonet. He was trained to use most things as weapon especially military articles.

He decided to go to the Ukraine after the Russians invaded proper in early 2022. The Ukrainian Army too...

Read and leave comments (0)

On Putin's hands much blood does stain,
From the dreadful invasion of Ukraine.
Russian tanks and armies have been sent
To destroy lives - much of whom were innocent.
 
Senseless and evil - it must be described,
As many Ukrainians flee or try to hide.
Putin - a man the world must surely despise,
As we hear his words, which are full of lies.

While Ukraine still tries to show resistance,
...

Read and leave comments (0)

Father,  

what is it I see?

In this place down below

Where rich tides of life 

ebb, and then flow

Where beauty & horror 

Rub shoulders like friends 

And the dominant species 

Both destroy, and defend

What is it I see?

When the colours of dawn

Turn, too soon, to darkness 

In a gathering storm

Not made from the seasons

But the breath of i...

Read and leave comments (8)

How much harm is inflicted by ambition and power

that carrying war in itself,

sheds blood,

tears and grief

How little does evil and hatred care about

slaughtering children and elders

or the present and the future of a country

How absolutely insane may corruption and ego become

to smother, desolate and crush a garden

Ukraine, you have been orphaned,

but ...

Read and leave comments (1)

Confusion

People milling about

Screaming

At a makeshift hospital a mother cries for her child

Cameras follow through to the operating room

Where the child lies

The doctor screams at the camera

He sounds like he’s saying I’ll smash your face in

But when the translation comes

He’s saying

Show this to Putin

Because the child has died

Illusion

Last week they...

Read and leave comments (2)

Armchair generals
Firing other people’s bullets
With other people’s sons
Express sympathy
With the refugee
Who would be welcome here
If they weren’t such a risk to national insecurity
And Lincolnshire is full, says Leigh
Even if they’re willing to pick fruit

What has Liz’s dressing-up box
Got for us today?
Fighter pilot? Tank commander?
Recruiter for La Légion étrangère?
She’s unlik...

Read and leave comments (4)

On the threshold she stood,

Of the house where her life smiled.

Waving wildly her small arms at him,

Of whom she was the only child.

Inside sat the lady of the house,

Silencing her sobs and drinking up her tears.

Careful not to let the the happy bird know,

Chasing her was the worst of her fears.

All laiden with arms covered under his coat,

To not let the little...

Read and leave comments (0)

I wake up to coffee

My failing eye sight

Classical music  gently calming down

The beats of the coming day

My cat encircles me

Wanting food

And then with trepidation

I turn on the news

They are waking up to

An underground shelter

Darkness all around them

Hearing in the distance

The slow thunder of tanks

And the loss of thei...

Read and leave comments (0)

Two hands pressed against a window pane
as the packed train departs the station
A mother holds her child close and tight
heading to an unknown destination

He watches blinking away the tears
until the train is far out of sight 
Mother and child escape the danger 
Father stays on to fight the brave fight

For the first time in their family life
they will not be together tonight
There wi...

Read and leave comments (4)

Beware the bear, my father said,

and he’d been taken to its lair,

read the truth, and clawed his way

from its clasp, a gasp from death

where all breath slows,

in Siberian taiga snows.

Beware the bear,

that funny, honey, sunny-featured creature

which, as a host, will greet you

to its land of ice and hut-filled woods,

with a hug and, open-armed,

insist your stay...

Read and leave comments (5)

HERE COMES THE WAR

Upon the hand that wears the ring

Upon the land where locusts sing

There lies a shadow that begins

To make fools of foolish kings

By fear, hunger, hate and pride

By secret tears never cried  

By flood, famine, fire and rod

By supplication to their God

Here comes the war

Over the border

Right to your door

Here comes the war

U...

Read and leave comments (1)

The sirens are ringing out

Did I wake up to 1939?

Bits of paper waved in the air

As a bomb rips through a house

“we’ll hit them in their bank accounts”

But no statement can save a child’s life

The sirens ringing out

Wailing across a Kyiv square

A mother in Donetsk a sister in Odesa

A cold chill running down her spine

“It’s hopeless”

...

Read and leave comments (4)