Tag Archives: UKRAINE
SEND IN THE PLANES
It is uncomfortable.
It causes pain.
Is it insane?
or, is there a good reason
to refrain
from sending in the planes?
Watching a fight
from the sidelines
is no way to win the bout.
Democracy must win.
Never doubt.
Planes sit on tarmacs
as children die
in the arms of the wounded.
It is uncomfortable
to watch their pain.
Send in the planes!
Filed under POETRY
Angel Prayer
Do angels fear to tread
Mariupol‘s streets
lined with the dead?
Who else will guard
the skies that bled
upon her living souls ?
A single prayer is said,
asking skies to close
and ease the dread
of more to fall and fail
than bodies.
Listen well, angels of Ukraine.
Speak to angels everywhere
and pass along the prayer,
lest dictators leave their stain
on centuries of despair,
on the streets of Ukraine
and elsewhere.
Filed under POETRY
Wheat and War
Bread is life.
Ukrainian wheat
Feeds the world.
Fields plowed.
Seed sowed
While bombs fall
On fertile earth
Watered now
By chemical rain?
War kills.
Not for hours,
Nor days and weeks;
But, for months and years
Or even decades.
Another Chernobyl looms
Over wheat fields
And their children,
Young and old,
Hungry and waiting.
I grow cold
Fearing more, contemplating
Famine and war.
Filed under POETRY
JUST BREATHE
Wiser heads than mine
Form a summit line,
G-7, EU, NATO.
Titles matter not.
Nor names.
Smiling nods in greeting
Begins their meeting
While phosphorous bombs
Drop fires no one can put out.
Ukrainians await the word
Which assures they can endure.
Europe holds it breath
On the front lines of its defense.
Do not hold your breath too long.
That way lies death; not just
For Ukraine, but for all of us.
Hopes rise and once again
We fear the lateness of the hour
As Russia tries to devour
Ukrainians holding tight to freedom
On the outskirts of Western Democracies.
We plead, just breathe!
Breathe support and protection.
Stop holding your breath.
Just breathe!
Just breathe!
Filed under POETRY
CLIMBING WITH UKRAINE
Keep watching.
Keep helping.
Do not stop now
when the road rises up
and we near the brow
of the hill.
From the top we will see
both the way we have come
and where we shall be
once we descend
the other side
now unknown.
keep climbing.
Tired and worn,
soul-sore and forlorn,
we must trudge on.
Despite the sirens which warn
of incoming cyber
and missile attacks.
Prepare to fight back.
Find strength to continue.
There is no going back.
Peace of mind is the price we pay
standing outside comfort zones,
as day follows night,
to defeat the evils which delight
despots and autocrats.
Goodness and mercy light our way.
Be not afraid. Stay the course.
All roads come to an end;
unlike rainbows,
which use our tears
and the sunlight of truth
to color a new world
where peace can rebuild
new cities on the hill.
Filed under POETRY
THE WHITENESS OF WAR AND PEACE
Afghanistan,Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia,
Myanmar, South Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Ukraine
to name a few where war is hell
due to shelling missiles and bombs.
Roaming tanks and armored vehicles
hauling troops shoot civilians at will:
children hiding in shelters,
adults seeking bread,
pregnant women giving birth.
Destruction of hospitals and schools
creates a living hell.
And while wise heads of state debate
wars continue unabated,
except for the acts of the truly courageous
whom we all agree do not deserve such fate.
Look deeper where no bombs yet fall
to places where despots and bullies stand tall.
The USA, the UK, France, Hungary et al.
Leaders elected but never impeached by an electorate
which loves hostility in its games and entertains
itself with harsh rhetoric and hate,
sexist and racist snipes and attacks
against those who disclose white men lack
a claimed true supremacy, used for centuries
to hold top of place in every endeavor.
Even in hearings selecting Supreme Court Justices
white supremacy seeks to trump the most sage.
White men, and women too, wage
war with words on FOX News and in media
unused to being used as propaganda tools.
Facebook, Meta, Twitter, Tik Tok
and others are weapons of war before
other armaments become necessary
in a place where votes set agenda for democracy.
Ukraine is the not the start of the Third World War.
Ukraine is the first place democratic patriots fight back.
All democracies have been under word and cyber attack.
Stop the gaslit words. Stop the hate.
Stop the lies. Stop the insider attacks
on nomination of candidates, elections
and sacred halls of government.
Contemplate truth and defend it
before lethal attacks increase
and weapons of war become legal,
unlicensed and hidden from view
until they are used to attack you
and those we need to guide us through
World War Three.
We who love our democracy
are counting on you.
Filed under POETRY
Prejudice on the Move
Can you tell me why
We hurl stereotypes
Onto the backs of refugees
Fleeing equal terrors,
Seeking equal favor,
Hoping for survival?
Can you tell me
Why we blindfold
Our fearful eyes
With stories of savages
And thugs unless
Those in flight look like
You or I ?
Filed under POETRY
BURNT OFFERINGS
Burnt offerings
from a mother dead
thirty years past
left smoking hot
on the stove top
in a dream confused
by vegetables wrapped
in stars
the sweet smell of meat
charred to sugar
potatoes sliced and crisped
arranged across the sky
amid the stars.
discovered after she
was ushered to the car
to begin her own journey
away from me
food left behind
to nurture a daughter
nearly blind
with grief for other mothers
and daughters, and self.
Ancient lessons taught
in the dead of night
of the power of burnt offerings
I had thought were hers
but in truth
are mine.
Filed under POETRY
STUMBLING TOWARD PEACE
How limited is man’s reason
at the best of times
in calm seas
when a light touch
is all the need?
Calm hand on the helm
as ships of state range
angry seas roiled and rolling
in waves of megalomania
matters even more,
while people plead for
even more power
as innocent citizens cower
in basements and tunnels,
where children are crying
and parents sighing
their inability to reach safety.
If answers were known
the problem would already be
solved for a frightened humanity.
There are no easy answers,
no negotiation nor compromise
when reason has become undone.
Questions such as those we face
can only be answered
by history, after becoming
stumbled upon by those whose reason
holds fast despite the blast
of missiles and bombs.
It is not only armaments unleashed
which make us stumble and fall;
also, reason undermined by tall
tales and lies which cloud
the road to freedom and the end of war.
We cannot pretend to know what will work.
Strategy cannot portend outcomes.
We are all in the dark ages now
hoping for reason to light a new way,
a renaissance to unfold
that the story to be told
will end with cheers and delight
of a world with greater insight.
Filed under POETRY
annarino writes 