Poetry Blogs (War)

The Unknown Soldier’s Prayer

I could be your husband, father, son.

The lost bones of another pointless war.

A flag to drape across my resting place,

transported from a distant, hostile shore.

I could have been a tinker, tailor, thief ,

lying here for a century and more,

those passing trades mean little to me - now

the angry guns have relinquished their roar.

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A WWI remembrance poem

(First published online for Northern Life magazine 2018)

It creaked as he left:

The old garden gate

He’d promised to fix it

But now it was too late

Tearful in the doorway

His mother cries out,

‘Do it when you’re back, Billy!’

And of this she has no doubt

He waves,

And off to glory are the swathes

Of boys, and men in their pr...

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He witnessed the rise and fall of the tides

Of the sea that seemed so milky in the moonlight.

Gloating over its graceful strides,

The rumble of the colossal sea was all he could hear that silent night.


The stars twinkled in the darkness,

And the moon in the blackness

Gazed dotingly at him and his boat,

As the decrepit carrier carted its master swiftly afloat.


How long had he been at the ...

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"Only the dead know the end of war" Plato

My mind sitting passively in a pensive mood state

Waiting to type whatever relates

With so much upheaval and so much disquiet

Black and whites fighting, running a riot

Innocent bystanders just passing by

Witnessing atrocities hearing the cries

Bricks being thrown, windows being smashed

Hopes and dreams vanish stock market...

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Giant girders bent and burnt and

Crushed fire engines daunt the

Halls of the museum at Albany N.Y. the

Monumental fossils of

9/11 but what will be the

Bones of war with small fry that

Flew poker-faced into the side of our souls?

After the cover-ups and cock-ups and shifty politics and

Constructive euthanasia and

Plastic heroes what

Glorious moraine can grinding folly ...

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It's September of forty-five. 
We remember the dark months 
when France was overrun and England stood alone 
against the force of Nazi armies.
Soon Germany attacked Russia. 

Then Japan committed a tactical triumph 
and a strategic blunder: they attacked Pearl Harbor.
Our ocean fortress had been breached.
That Day in Infamy galvanized the nation; 
to win, no matter what the cost.

Two ...

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It's May 8,  nineteen forty-five, 
What a happy, giddy, glorious time, 
with the end of the war in Europe 
and peace around the corner! 
The war years are a blur of memories.

We remember the dark days, bleak months
when France was overrun and England stood alone 
against the onslaught of Nazi oppression, 
with the miracle of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain.
Soon Germany attacked Russi...

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Losing a war, you

Sue for peace so

They've set up a committee to

Negotiate but

What terms to put to such a foe?

The offer of a Non-Aggression pact?

An appeal to our common heritage?

Hints of retaliation in kind?

Debt forgiveness?

A favorable Trade Deal?

A new World Order, even perhaps

Membership of the Security Council or as a last resort

Immunity from War ...

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Just a book in a charity shop it was

"The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations"

(Third impression, revised, 1943),

Except for a dedication:

"Presented to Miss H C Barr as a mark

Of esteem from her Falkirk colleagues

On the occasion of her transfer to Glasgow 13"

There was a formal stamp in purple:

"H M Inspector of Taxes, 4th December 1943,

Mission Lane, Falkirk, Scotland"

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The Next War Is Here

Out there, we walked quite friendly up to death,

Sat down and ate beside him, cool and bland,

Asked of his health and shook him by the hand.

Recoiled in horror at his fetid breath.

Before the world went crazy, he was there,

We treated him as though he was a fly

Who we could swat away - and never die.

We were invincible, without a care.

Now ...

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Belgium was beastly cold in December of ’44.  
Deep snow covered frozen ground as 
shattered forests crackled and groaned 
under the weight of ice. 
We barely felt our feet, 
even when we tried to warm them.
Frostbite was a constant threat.
The air was still; there was no wind.  
Dense clouds covered the sky
and snowfall lent a misty haze 
like falling fog. 

We hoped for a quick end t...

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Son Of My Father

What did you do in the war dad?

I fought against Fascists, son.

And were you frightened there dad?

Did you want to turn around and run?

Yes, I was frightened there son

So, don’t believe the lies that are spun

About the death and the glory of war, boy.

There is death, but of glory there’s none.

Thanks for all that you did dad

A...

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Scream and fight,

oh little mind.

An endless battle

between you two

Always more than one,

never black and white

so you always fight.

Heart for love and lies.

Brain for truth and pain.

Listen to me I'm struggling!

Both of you take too much,

I can't keep up.

Fight for me and not with each other.

Fight for us and not some lover.

We need eachoth...

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Johnny stood besides his brother 
crying Tommy look after mother, 
He was going to fight a bloody war 
tears fell as he walked out the door 

His mother prayed all night for peace 
asked the lord to let the gun fire cease 
innocent children taken from this life 
pain, explosions, sharp cuts the knife 

dying men decay in the ground 
A solution to peace has to be found 
no more explosion, g...

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Why I went back 

A posthumous poem in the voice of Walter Tull – 28.04.1888 to 25.03.1918

Until you’ve been under fire

hunkered down in some funk hole

you’ll never know terror, the horror

or the damage to the soul

that just one barrage can do,

before you ever hear the whistle’s blast

that, sadly it’s true

for all too many,

signals this’ll be your last.

So, ...

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and soon the bombs won’t fall
and soon the bombs will start again
and soon the child will sleep
and soon the child will not sleep again
and soon she will put her arms around her father
and soon she will lay him in the ground
and now the screams of agony from the child
echo back with no sound

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In Other News

In other news

The forests burned

Ice caps melted

No one learned

We all stopped listening

To each other

But continued shouting

At one another

Threw our plastics

In the sea

Gorged ourselves

On misery

Refused to let

Our neighbours in

Treated losses

As a win

Praised the rich

And damned the poor

Pissed against

Austerity’s do...

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I used to think it would be an honor 
to usher in a thousand years of peace,
a willing martyr to stop senseless suffering, 
but I had no idea of the atrocities 
that would ensue between men,
or the loss of innocent children 
that we would witness with despair 
and helplessness. 

Come now Lord, end the madness, 
flood evil with love,
make our planet a peaceful place, 
before all hope i...

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