history (Remove filter)
Bread and Roses
For your information; the video below is sung in Yiddish, with English and French subtitles.
In forty-eight, I came into this world,
whose peace, they say, was won at cost immense:
I’m told that I should genuflect and bow,
to those who worship those old gods of war,
yes, I should heed the Christian warriors’ words,
who preach from pulpit and from podium,
and show respect ...
Tuesday 22nd April 2025 3:15 pm
Eighty Springs Since Buchenwald
Eighty years ago, Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated, revealing the horrific suffering endured by thousands of victims. Under brutal Nazi rule, countless lives were lost to violence, starvation, and forced labor. The liberation marked both an end to this chapter of terror and a solemn reminder of the depths of human cruelty.
Eighty springs have bloomed and gone, Since gates wer...Monday 14th April 2025 7:19 am
No Escape
We can’t escape it, don’t know what to do.
People at each other, guess it’s overdue.
Yeah, we’ve read about it.
Is it here? I doubt it,
but I’m here to tell ya that it all is true.
Cuz the world’s falling fast into decay.
Makes me wanna stand up, shout to say -
I don’t really know man!
Where we gonna go man?
We can’t keep going on and on this way.
They make ...
Sunday 16th March 2025 6:36 pm
Born of Rot: 14 June 1946
14 June 1946 — the day malice was given human form again. It reflects on the vile nature of that birth and demands that this parasite be torn from the earth before more harm is done.
Sunday 16th March 2025 9:21 am
Machynlleth 1982
Bodies are burning their oil lamps brightly
from the windows overlooking the church
their silhouettes shape-shift on the bedroom walls
as they move from room to room,
neither stand still long enough for you
to grasp who or what they are,
televisions flicker in accord
as if planned in some way, it’s strangely romantic
as if part of a passion play – and I am the only one h...
Saturday 15th March 2025 2:28 pm
The Billionaire's Salute
The limerick recounts Elon Musk’s modified Nazi salute during Donald Trump’s inauguration celebration at the Capital One Arena, drawing attention to the unsettling revival of fascist gestures in a modern political context.
There once was a mogul named Musk, Whose fame turned increasingly brusque. At an oath-taking spree, He gestured with glee, A shadow from history’s dusk.Thursday 23rd January 2025 5:54 pm
Hysterical Women (No.2 of 8-no make that 6!)
Acknowledment to Branwell -
his poem on cliches bump-started my grey matter into action:
"just get something on page - anything, I thought...."
Poor Anne of the Thousand Days,
wouldn’t stick to King Henry like glue,
the second of eight old clichés,
that fat git she just would not woo,
to his will, feisty Anne wouldn’t bend,
well, all the world’s a stage,
cut a long ...
Tuesday 22nd October 2024 8:33 am
Wachefeld [song version]
Wachefeld
Let’s start at the beginning
In a land of ice and snow
Where a brave band of armoured warriors
Set sail with sword and bow
To forge a new life far way
And settle in a land
Where the gods had promised riches
For each and every man
We sailed the mighty North Sea
And by the grace of Odin’s beard
Landed safe in England
Where our kinsmen were ri...
Saturday 28th September 2024 11:45 am
The Uncertain Journey
All along the railed paths from Regents Park to Notting Hill,
we feel the gaze of those long passed whose sightless eyes are on us
Still.
Through the Parks of Royal note St James up to Marble Arch,
we tread the lawns as lowly folk and take our pause as Soldiers
March.
Beneath broad streets unpaved of gold from Camden Town to Bethnal Green,
we transi...
Thursday 18th July 2024 1:35 pm
Thank you
These dunes have been draped with flesh,
some on summer days surrendering to lovers
some under the gun by blood brothers.
The days between then and now are in the sand,
each footprint, each drop of joy and blood still here.
Children rush the shoreline chased by foamy waves.
We built monuments and carved men’s names
where beautiful children share happy games.
Beyon...
Tuesday 4th June 2024 8:35 am
World History
One struggles beneath the ever-bearing hand of tyranny.
One rises up in revolution, wanting to be free.
One gives his life a soldier so the rest might live in peace.
One celebrates in freedom as they cheer throughout the streets.
One starts his life from nothing but is free to make his way.
One has more than his father at the ending of the day.
One worked for very ...
Saturday 16th March 2024 11:00 am
Jezebel
Dim lit, damp and distant corner
torn from dream of vapor’s fold.
Slow descent to worlds divided,
nothing hot and nothing cold.
Long ago this soul forgotten,
cast off in the ides of youth.
Un-forgiven deeds left hiding
beneath the stone of burden’s proof
Wait to see if fate redeems her.
Wait to hear if time repeals.
Sentence passed down just to mar her.
W...
Sunday 11th February 2024 1:53 am
history in the making
a wise history is a wise,
decision in the making
a wise decision is a wise,
point of decision
in the making is in the making,
of a wise sense
history is a sense of history
a galaxy is a decision in the making
a galaxy is history in the making
a wise sense is a wise sense of history
a galaxy is a wise sense of history
history is a fact of history
history is a wise fact
a wise fact i...
Saturday 27th January 2024 7:38 pm
Time Travellers - 1775
Tread gently beneath the fragile fanlight
With its curving carved ribs
framing rippling glass
Glance up to the Venetian arch with its Canaletto morning sky
And the uncoiled mahogany staircase
Treads echoing to the creak and clatter of murmurous ghosts
Peel the plaster skin from the wall
Withies within, woven by dead fingers
Stiff reeds droop with the stilled pro...
Sunday 7th January 2024 3:32 pm
Culture defined
Combination of ideas birth of the creative mind
Expressed through Arts
Representation of traditions
Mix of all mankind
Historical revolutionary excitement of all who break through
In the heart of the now. Relived by me.. expressed by You
A picture painted and expressed through performance
Examples of blessings through strength and endurance
Lessons results built on improvem...
Wednesday 1st November 2023 5:43 pm
Holy War
passionate generals boom their blasphemies;
aim thy cannons at our godless enemies
burn their homes, set fire to the trees
kill every last living thing
start with all the "human beings"
kill every doe, bird and bee that breathe
breeding in the miasma stream
in their demonic energy
fear not, for
heavy is the hand god feeds
waifers and wine
defenders of the make be...
Friday 13th October 2023 4:28 am
PASTIMES
Yes, a mandatory retirement age in Congress
I believe it's time has arrived
We will base the age on FDR's fireside chat
And if you heard the broadcast live
Friday 28th July 2023 7:05 pm
The Dark Passages
Sleepless nights and the
Monsoon rain, drops after drops
Sharing little secrets besides
Greenwood trees. All alone!
I, like the other homo sapiens
Behind the closed doors with
Abandoned theories of truth
In conversation with myself.
Under all the hidden floors
History with frozen steps
May start its own story
Hushed and covered up!
The obvious is ...
Tuesday 7th February 2023 4:42 am
The Birth
I am the only one, all alone
With none to be substituted.
I am the solace of the sufferers
Everywhere around everything.
I know the secret numbers
To unlock the mind.
I know the dark chamber
Of the soul in eternity.
I overwhelmed the waves of
Our history, surviving along
The time scale of nuisance
Standing erect over the debris
Of beliefs fro...
Sunday 5th February 2023 6:01 pm
We Don't Trust Them
We don’t trust them.
Those giants who rule the Earth;
those fallen ones who stole our dominion.
We don’t trust them.
Those royal descendants of “gods”;
those of the divine blood line.
Why should we trust them?
They live in castles even today,
while we still cower in caves.
Why should we trust them?
From days of old,
we die in their wars,
we beg to consume what they own.
Why sh...
Saturday 21st January 2023 3:17 pm
History
Read History
as if you were the perpetrator
and you will find,
how carelessness and apathy
add up into atrocity
Listen to History
as if the stories were your own
and you will find
even the best of us have things to learn,
trials to push through, and opportunities unearned
Know History
as if it was the back of your own hand
and you will find
raw huma...
Friday 20th May 2022 5:59 pm
Missile Ways
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...
Sunday 20th March 2022 10:01 pm
Dot To Dot
Dot To Dot
Join the dots all in a line
Where do they all lead?
Afghanistan
Land of failed empires
Defeated armies
Opium production
Terrorism central
Forget Lebanon
Afghan is number one
Ever since the 70s
The Soviets started it
All the rest added to it
You know the nations
Shall we bet who’s next?
from LIZARD SNAIL 124K
Nick Armbrister and other...
Saturday 20th November 2021 9:08 pm
Neoblastic Rituals
Neoblastic Rituals
We gather high upon the hill
To do our ritual and spells
It’s dark up here with a breeze
Just like it was five thousand years ago
Our ancestors met up here
And did what we did here
One long connected circle line
We add to that each year
The veil thins and we chant songs
Their words have meaning
Carefully put together for this act
Reaching out ...
Sunday 10th January 2021 10:01 pm
A Long Walk
She's gone again, I dont know where
Her nightly walks a bit of a mystery,
I wonder if there's some fancy man
After all, she has a bit of a history
If I had any sense, I'd try to follow her
Difficult to think its come down to this,
Yet we dont communicate anymore
To be fair, it was never married bliss
A copper at the door with bad news
They've found a woman in t...
Monday 23rd November 2020 11:03 am
Skip Hire
Moved in, hired a skip
In here time stood still
Dealt with the daughter
Her dad gone, taken ill
Bathroom has lead pipes
Ceilings tobacco-stained
Window timbers rotten
Wet-rot well-engrained
Valuers took the quality
I'm left with foisty rugs
Sixties-style bric-a-brac
A zoo of domestic bugs
Fifty years in this semi
Kids married, wife dead,
Mak...
Friday 16th October 2020 11:00 am
The Poetry King
A bow to The Poetry King,
who thinks he doesn't
mean a thing
in the grand scheme.
Wears his heart
on stained sleeve,
makes paupers feel
like royalty.
Waxes poetic about
life, love, and history
that would otherwise remain
unsolved mysteries.
More than just a dream,
The Poetry King
lives eternally,
in you and me.
https://youtu.be/0FT3SmZ_zx0
Saturday 5th September 2020 2:21 am
A Heart With No History
When I saw your wayward ways
My heart switched into reverse
This was far from what I wanted
An outcome so plainly perverse
Yours was a heart with no history
We were strangers, noon till night
The one I married was a mystery
A mirror that reflected no light
Tales you told me of your past
Turned out to be little but fiction
I stood next to a stranger when
T...
Tuesday 1st September 2020 10:43 am
BORN OF PAIN / STOLEN NAME
Born of pain cursed to live that way
A forgotten name marked with shame
Guilt by association becomes your fame
A stolen name becomes the scares on the back of a forgotten man.
Fading away to become the dust of another land
Bitterness replaced by forgiveness justice is a slap of the back of a hand.
Born of pain the mind struggle the mental slaying
The community broke...
Tuesday 25th August 2020 1:08 pm
Amy Johnson
Penetrating through soft light clouds: airspace; blended for all who dare to impress.
Assiduous Amy Johnson did just that: a derring-do role model: a legacy;
relative in the minds of many that still lives on.
Renowned for her solo flight: London to Australia in 1930.
Transcended the hitherto, male domination, seizing world-recognition.
Flying away from ground possessions, flying amongst the s...
Sunday 26th July 2020 7:13 pm
On line poetry - and history in the making
I've tended to have an old fashioned view of libraries - a very positive one, but limited to book borrowing, quiet spaces for reading and a children's corner. Of course, there is much or to a modern library than that and I have become involved with a couple of aspects of Surrey Libraries of which I was previously unaware.
The first of these is a poetry blog. This is a regular feature which incl...
Friday 3rd July 2020 3:33 pm
Sell Me Something More Than Snake Oil And Lies
Sell Me Something More Than Snake Oil And Lies
They say that pulling down statues
Is rewriting history
As though the sculptors who made them
Were historians
And not some commissioned artist
Doing what he was told
Sell me something more than snake oil and lies
It is a form of history
Cast in the wealthy viewpoint
From the stance of the privileged
It’s...
Thursday 11th June 2020 2:21 pm
Its A Pushover
Re-writing history's a
Picnic Cromwell's
Puritans
Henry V111 and the
Monasteries
Pol Pot Stalin
Mao Tse Tung killied
Millions when they
Pulled down the statue of
Saddam Hussein how that
Transformed Iraq the
Taliban blowing up the
Buddhas made Afghanistan a
Model state simply
Toss a lump of metal into the
Canal
Thursday 11th June 2020 11:34 am
Skidmarks
Judging the crimes of
History is easy just
Pull down a statue but
Who's judging us?
We get away with murder:
Inequality rife
Vice condoned
Old folk choking
Starving kids
Mass extinctions the
Planet going to hell,
Hourly we
Bequeath fresh skidmarks for
Our kids to
Topple
Thursday 11th June 2020 10:57 am
A Stroll Around Kirkby Lonsdale
A stroll around Kirkby Lonsdale with me
Take-away a bacon butty and a cup of tea
Start at Devils Bridge among the motorbikes
This is where we will begin our short hike
The pathway along the River Lune is our walk
Ending up the Radical Steps, breathless, unable to talk
A view made famous by Ruskin and Turner long ago
Across to Underley Hall and the Lune Valley below
...
Wednesday 3rd June 2020 9:56 am
Requiem For A Denon
In layers of strata lie the tracks of history
Archaeologists hunt for artefacts and bones
I cut off your flex and buried you with ceremony
Lamenting the demise of your dulcet tones
Sentinel moonlight lit the private interment
Your laser will exhume Miles Davis no longer
Millenia of chords traversed that plastic portal
You left me deaf, my hearing aids get stronger
...
Thursday 16th April 2020 12:57 pm
The Overland Launch
The Overland Launch:
In the land of Coleridge and his Ancient Mariner,
In a time of coal fires, wooden boats and horsepower,
There is a story of the Lynmouth Lifeboat Louisa
And the night horse and man over 13 miles pulled her.
Two of the afternoon clock struck a chime,
On January 12th, 1899.
The wind howled and the sea it roared,
Flooding ports and rai...
Thursday 2nd April 2020 6:41 pm
Boots 3
On the cold winters morning thermal boots are pulled on
The radio announced…ground frost and the promise of snow later in the day
And yet she is happy…
Happy because she is doing what she loves
The market is freezing in December
Icy winds blow and there is no sunlight to warm frozen hands
It’s the people you see
Fellow workers on the market, pleased to see her
Customers sto...
Tuesday 4th February 2020 10:57 am
Berlin Irony
9th November 2019
1961
A wall of shame
cut through a city and a people
a bleak new division:
we and the world turned away
1989
A wall fell
remade a city, a people, a history
a bright new union:
we and the world rejoiced
2019
Now we fashion
our uniquely British wall
a tragedy of repeated history:
the world wonders, shrugs
2047
A...
Tuesday 19th November 2019 9:41 am
Dumb and dumber
We used to chat
On a green screen
In the pre teens
On 3310
As it was
Back then
SMS texting friends
Was the
big trend
So relieved
To read
1 Message Received
During break
Used to
Play snake
Sunday 20th October 2019 11:08 pm
Liverpool Song
Liverpool Song
Liverpool,
A city of wild hopes and dishevelled dreams,
Reclines by the riverside
Waiting for the tide of its times.
A seabound, wavecrowned, tidebound city,
City of white spray and foam,
Crested by gulls, and smiles, and screams,
City on its long way home.
A restless, relentless, unrelenting city,
Troubled by the sou...
Wednesday 4th September 2019 7:41 pm
Come Down from the Clouds
Come down from among the Clouds
Come down from among the clouds and seat yourselves.
I will set plates for y'all. There will be no wooden flatware,
no metal cups, certainly no raggedy napkins. The ceramic
made in China, flatware in the USA, tempered glass in
Argentina, and napkins cut and sewn by a little old colored
lady in Little Rock, Arkansas, while her great granddaughter
...Friday 1st March 2019 12:38 am
The Old Field Gate
I rejoice to see that old wood five-bar gate
that still stands guard beneath the ancient beech
to a field sloping gently down the hill.
The gate from an old farm track - now lost to time -
has seen so many seasons, so many harvests pass
and must have known an age of scythes and stooks
of horse drawn harrows, ploughs and wooden carts.
What could it tell of the village...
Wednesday 6th February 2019 12:08 pm
Llyfnant 2
version without the Welsh folklore
Under the yellow-green of sunlit beech
between banks of bluebells' hazy blue
where supple crosiers of new fern reach
over verdant moss still damp with dew
a grassy lane runs beside the river
In the mystic quiet of a leafy dome
of grey bark ash, beech and mighty oak
a far cuckoo calls all walkers home
but we pass u...
Wednesday 6th June 2018 3:14 pm
Biplanes Attack!
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...
Friday 20th April 2018 4:20 pm
History
You aren't a stranger
But still a jigsaw
Learning your edges
And roller coasters ways
I want to find your treasures
And what makes you, you
My sight see's great
My heart feels this is it
Waiting for you to take me back in time
As I listen
And capture your past with memory
Not a picture as you will be exposed
Only by identity we matched
I want to study you like a history book
Maybe te...
Thursday 15th March 2018 12:35 pm
The Old Beech Trees
As an evening bat dips and feeds
Lost light dims down the summer night
To deep dusk blue as the bright sun cedes
To soft moon above beech tree height
In the gentle night's warm azure sky
The beech trees' majesty holds sway
Their silhouettes hide the lone owl cry
Black shapes caressed by owlish grey
These trees have lived so many ages
Their trunks have known the...
Wednesday 14th March 2018 2:43 pm
The Land of a Giant
Between the dark Ystwyth and the angry sea
We walked the cold stone beach
From the swirling river mouth
To the striated rocks beneath the southern cliff
Their upended strata pointing the way across Tan y Bwlch
Beyond the town beneath its northern cliffs
A Celtic god watches and menaces
Black Lugus on Pen ddinas Maelor:
We brave his fierce storms which shade our day
...
Thursday 1st March 2018 3:29 pm
Mostly Welsh
I grew up in Wales
Around the Swansea docks
I walked beneath huge cargo ships
Held up with props and blocks
I was made in Wales
Around the southern ports
I watched the big ships dock
My family guessed my thoughts
I was mined in Wales
Near valleys black with slag
And closing pits and picket lines
With many a mine lodge flag
I was forged in Wales
...Tuesday 20th February 2018 1:49 pm
Hidden
Hidden
Call me The Baron. My full name is Nicholas Arthur Armbrister. I bloody hate that name! Do you know how I feel? My first name used when I’m naughty. “Nicholas, you’ve had a new tattoo!”
You must be part German with a name like that. Say it slowly out loud:
A-R-M-B-R-I-S-T-E-R.
They got images of Hitler’s panzers and Blitzkreig, Stukas and goose steps. No denying my heritage, I’m p...
Monday 19th February 2018 11:01 pm
Recent Comments
Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh on Tube Shelter
18 minutes ago
Philip Stevens on These places
8 hours ago
Clare on Reinvention.
9 hours ago
Marla Joy on A Mother's Life
14 hours ago
Hélène on Favorite Poet
15 hours ago
Tom Doolan on Forget-Me-Not
17 hours ago
C Byrne on These places
17 hours ago
John Coopey on BARNSLEY HONKY TONK WOMEN
22 hours ago
Stephen Gospage on Tube Shelter
23 hours ago
David RL Moore on Peace talks
23 hours ago