Poetry – Bogged Down in Death

Bogged Down in Death

Bogged down in the mud –

                Targets for the taking.

Mutinous and exhausted

                Morale through the floor.

Witnessing horror.

                Souls aching. Innocents quaking.

They can’t take it anymore.

Blunted by terror,

                By what their eyes have seen,

They are mindless

                Killing machines.

Bodies litter streets

                Mass graves and executions,

Without hope, as in a dream, totally obscene.

Looting and pillaging,

                Raping and killing,

Insane with propaganda.

                No fear of prosecution,

Expecting death.

                No longer fighting for anything grander. 

Empty vessels drawing breath.

Colossal losses,

                Capricious missiles,

Carnage beyond imagination.

                Seeking fascism in the wrong place,

Driving democracy out

                From an entire nation.

The dance of death’s own disgrace.

Opher – 2.5.2022

As with most wars, it starts with expectations of a swift conclusion but ends in the reality of long-drawn-out attrition.

Propaganda steals minds.

Soldiers witness the horrors of seeing friends maimed and blown to pieces beside them. There is no skill – only luck. Living in the shadow of constant terror the mind becomes numb.

When the opportunity presents itself they seek revenge, an outlet, an orgy of release. They execute, rape, torture and exert their power. It’s all they have. They have ceased to be human. They are immune to conscience.

All that exists is death.

There is no end in sight, no escape – just more of the same until the orders are given or the bullet strikes.

Who is to blame? It’s always the ones safe in the bunkers giving out the orders.

Poetry – The Brigands

The Brigands

The brigands charged down the hill,

Swords raised,

With chilling battle cries,

Thundering hooves.

Callously and gleefully they butchered men, women and children,

Set fire to huts,

Raped, tortured and looted.

But those were the days of long ago.

Nothing changes.

Except, now they use drones

And ‘peace keepers’.

Opher – 12.7.2020

Once upon a time we built walls around our cities and had fortified castles; we raised armies and kept constant watch.

What a way to spend your life – in fear of brigands.

They’d sweep down with their armies, killing, torturing, looting and raping.

Nowadays we’re much more sophisticated. We do it from afar.

Poetry – A Big Black Cloud

A Big Black Cloud

There was a big black cloud

                In the deep blue sky.

One moment sunshine

                Then wondering why.

We were shopping,

                Eating meals,

                                Laughing and planning

                                                Trips to the cinema.

Tanks rolled down the streets

                With bullets

                                Shells and missiles

                                                A howling, satanic choir.

No more normal.

                Ordinary forever gone.

After the days of terror

                Life is always wrong.

Opher – 5.4.2022

In this day and age it is hard to imagine the barbarity of war coming out of the blue.

This is Europe in 2022!

It’s barbaric.

I do not believe that the Ukrainian people really believed it would happen. One minute they were living normal lives in modern cities and the next they were hiding in cellars as the Russians turned their cities to rubble.

Putin – how do you sleep at night!! War Criminal and Mass Murderer!!

Chris Riddell has your measure!!

Poetry – Putin’s Dust

Putin’s Dust

Bedding to ashes

                Houses to dust

Sure and certain

                Cities resurrected

Traumatised people

                Suffer eternally.

Pounded to rubble

                Killed to be saved

Liberators in khaki

                Dispensers’ of death

Following orders

                Mindless madness.

Committed to the ground

                Flesh to earth

Pulverised

                To pulp

Grandiose plans

                Paranoia and power.

Curtains to ashes

                Children to dust

Futures to earth

                Hope to rust!

Dreams dissolved

                Horrors unleashed.

Time does not heal!

                Time does not heal!

                                Time does not heal!

Time just moves on.

                It moves on

                                And takes the stains with it.

Opher – 31.3.2022

War traumatises all who come into contact with it. It traumatises. It breaks minds. It ruins lives

The jigsaw puzzles cannot be put back together.

Minds are broken, damaged.

There is a stain that lasts forever.

It damages the victors as much as the victims.

Putin will suffer.

Is this why we put psychopaths in charge? Because they have no feelings for the suffering they instigate?

Is this why we elect sociopaths because they enjoy inflicting pain?

Are these leaders human?

Do they not become disturbed by the death and suffering they unleash?

Cities are rebuilt but the stains remain.

People cannot be rebuilt. The survivors are often the unlucky ones.

Part of them is forever destroyed.

War.

Nothing can ever be normal again.

Poetry – Missiles and Bombs

Missiles and Bombs

Missiles and bombs

                Falling like rain

Soaking the cities           

                Dissolving to dust.

Soldiers and death

                Filling the graves.

Emptying homes

                Mocking the just.

Escalating.

                Upping the ante.

No end in sight.

Destruction

And terror

An endless fight.

Saving face??

                No way out!

Existential threat?

                Brutal lout.

Opher – 23.3.2022

The Ukraine war is not going the way Putin had hoped. The liberator from the Nazi regime finds himself a fascist invader and figure of hate.

What was going to be a simple take-over has proved to be anything but. Instead of an incisive thrust Russia is in an existential crisis.

Nothing has gone to plan.

Death and destruction. We’re into a long war of contrition.

Putin is the rat trapped in the corner.

Poetry – The Brigands

The Brigands

The brigands charged down the hill,

Swords raised,

With chilling battle cries,

Thundering hooves.

Callously and gleefully they butchered men, women and children,

Set fire to huts,

Raped, tortured and looted.

But those were the days of long ago.

Nothing changes.

Except, now they use drones

And ‘peace keepers’.

Opher – 12.7.2020

Once upon a time we built walls around our cities and had fortified castles; we raised armies and kept constant watch.

What a way to spend your life – in fear of brigands.

They’d sweep down with their armies, killing, torturing, looting and raping.

Nowadays we’re much more sophisticated. We do it from afar.

Chris Riddell – War

The Russians have only one way of waging war – they pound and bomb cities into rubble! They kill and terrorise innocent citizens. It’s disgusting, brutal and inhuman. What are they hoping to gain? They make people hate them. They will never be able to keep and rule the land. They are making a wasteland out of a civilised country!!

Time for all wagers of war to be dragged before international courts – including the UK and USA!!

We need an international justice system that banishes war. We need a UN with teeth!!

Russia vicious in its weakness!!

Riddell sums it up in a cartoon. Russia, with its army is disarray is floundering. China watches on and the Ukraine is turned to rubble. What a disaster on all fronts. What a fool Putin was.

Decisions – A Short Story

Decisions

Joe Biden stood at the window, frowning, hands clasped behind his back, eyes watching the anti-war demonstration in front of the Whitehouse, but brain not engaged. Deep in thought.

The Ukraine situation was delicately poised. One false move now could easily provoke World War Three. These decisions were all knife-edged. Should he have announced that they would not involve themselves militarily? Should he have refused to pass on those Polish planes or enforce a no-fly zone?

Putin had threatened a nuclear holocaust. Instead of a rapier thrust and installing of a puppet regime he had a war of attrition. The costs were enormous, not just in tanks, planes, roubles and soldiers, but in credibility. They were being humiliated. Russia was bankrupt – a pariah state.

Yet there was still that enormous nuclear arsenal and a cornered beast was at his most dangerous.

The switchboard woke him from his reverie. ‘I have Kamala here for you.’

‘Send her in.’

Kamala strode in looking tense and business-like. Without asking, she purposefully sat herself at the table.

Joe, seeing this was formal joined her, leaning forward, fingers interlaced. His blue eyes locked with her brown eyes and the unspoken question was written on his face. What was this about?

Kamala nervously ran her tongue over her lips, took a deep breath and steadied herself. ‘I’ve just come from a meeting with Lloyd Austin and Avril Haynes.’ She tensed, waiting for him to catch on. ‘Avril says they have finally achieved it.’ Her eyes were steady and piercing.

Joe slowly sat back into his seat and his hands slid into his lap. He knew what this was about.

‘This is it,’ Kamala said quietly.

‘Is she certain?’ He asked. ‘Every sub, every plane, every mobile launcher?’

She nodded, her eyes not leaving his.

‘Our operatives have successfully secreted a location device on every nuke the Russians have.’

Joe took a long deep breath. He could feel his heart racing. This was a moment that he had hoped would never come. His mind was clear.

‘Is she sure they will work?’

‘We’ve tested them repeatedly. When the satellites activate them they will work. We haven’t had a single failure.’

He required that reassurance. ‘What does Lloyd say?’

Kamala paused, pursed her lips and set her face in a stern mask. ‘Lloyd says we are ready to go. We have sufficient cruise missiles deployed to take them all out. We have a window of opportunity.’

Joe raised his hands to his chest, considered for a full minute.

He rose, walked the short distance to his desk and punched the intercom. ‘Call a full cabinet meeting. The war room. Now.’

They were all gathered. The room was full of conversation. All, apart from Lloyd Austin, Defence secretary, and Avril Haynes, Intelligence, were speculating on what this was about.

Kamala took her seat. Joe walked in with slow deliberate steps and placed his hands on the long table.

There was an expectant silence.

‘Will you be quiet please?’

Opher – 16.3.2022