War (Remove filter)
The Final Act
Friday 28th December 2012 10:24 am
Daily States of Pain
Daily States of Pain
I never thought for a moment of my future,
Never knew how much I would suffer,
I go through life trying so hard
But disability always gets the better,
Always stops me in my tracks from progressing.
I was keen for life, keen to explore
Different places that as a kid I only dreamed,
But my tours of the Persian Gulf
Have ce...
Friday 28th December 2012 12:07 am
The Trumpeter
The war was all around
And the city was small.
The doctors laughed at him,
He was not like de Gaulle.
Well, may be the trumpeter?
OK, trumpeter, as a trumpeter!
Being a trumpeter is so good,
At least you don’t have to bow.
The bullets whistle over your head,
As the winds sometimes blow.
But why it happened like that?
For a boy ...
Sunday 2nd December 2012 7:14 pm
Lining The Pockets
Saturday 29th September 2012 11:11 pm
HEARTBREAK ETCHED IN STONE
I was visiting a memorial to my late father's first cousin killed in Ireland nearly a century ago.
Next to it was a headstone that told a desperately sad tale of another's loss.
................................................................................................................................................................................................
Hear...
Friday 21st September 2012 11:55 pm
Legacy
Tuesday 28th August 2012 4:22 am
Breathe in the Dust
I have my own little piece of the world.
Sure, it has its problems, but nothin’ too much.
It has its pleasures and there’s more than enough.
And I’ll share them with you; I will share them with you.
So, put down that rifle, and put down that gun.
Let’s take back those words that hatred begun.
Let’s tear down those icons that make us ignore
The cries of our own, the cries of our ...
Wednesday 6th June 2012 2:45 pm
Contents of War
Contents of War
War, is a strange parody of life,
You live it as a soldier;
Beckoned by power be you brave
Or a coward,
It is much fought over this,
This human debacle that
Never relents,
Never goes away to tired
Quarters of history,
Much fought over by
Pacifist and Politician alike,
Always a bar...
Monday 28th May 2012 7:54 pm
Nuclear Cradle Song
Nuclear Cradle Song
Bye, baby, bye
Cry, baby, cry
You cry so do I.
My tears have all run dry.
So cry, baby, cry
Cry, baby, cry
Bye, baby, bye
No use in asking why
Our dreams fell from the sky.
So cry, baby, cry, baby, cry.
Bye, baby, bye
Cry, baby, cry
No one to hear you cry.
No one to hear us try.
Oh, cry, baby, cry,...
Saturday 26th May 2012 12:50 am
Civvies
None of the class could put their uniform
on in under a minute, fit their gas masks
and speak in a BBC accent. Two ran off
to explore World War Two but got lost
in the Blitz. Boys cooed at machine gun
nests and gagged at the taste of canned beef,
mistaking it for mustard gas. Everyone
laughed at the tour guide's rendition
of "Oh! It'...
Monday 14th May 2012 7:58 pm
Insane Poppy
There are Improvised Explosive Devices
Stuffed with cocaine fuelled erections
Scattered across London’s skyscape.
Idealised landscapes of home flicker before sanded eyes
As the sun seared flesh of maimed soldiers
Lies a long way from home.
And young war veterans fly wheelchair bound
Back to Blighted - To the arms of their mothers,
And occasionally lovers,
...
Sunday 29th April 2012 6:14 pm
SHE HAS THE ANSWERS
SHE HAS THE ANSWERS
It troubled her how it had come to this –
she knew each detail, each action, each thought –
but still it troubled her.
As she fell to her knees, her woollen skirt became sodden
with freshly fallen snow.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she wept
for her lost love, gone forever from this strife-torn world.
Soon she would do the ulti...
Monday 2nd April 2012 7:05 pm
SNIPER
SNIPER
Sitting patiently atop his tree camouflaged
against the enemy, the sniper waits.
For three days and three nights he has waited
to do his duty for Imperial Japan.
Along the trail walks the enemy. Alert and ready
but not looking up, for this is where the sniper is,
waiting, watching, ready right now.
Levelling his gun, he takes careful aim.
T...
Friday 30th March 2012 11:27 am
FIGHTER PILOT
FIGHTER PILOT
So you are a fighter pilot in one of today’s latest jets.
Tell me what it is like to fly, to fight and to die in the air?
All of the crushing g-forces and dizzying changes
of direction happening all at once.
I bet that there’s no glory in your battles,
only pain, mutilation and death.
But this is your game, an aerial ballet
of chess wher...
Sunday 18th March 2012 7:59 pm
One Step Ahead
One Step Ahead
One step ahead of Imperial Japanese forces, we were kicked out of the Dutch East Indies fleeing for our lives. We escaped in Dutch Air Service Dornier 24 flying boats and others ending up at Broome, Australia. Free for now from the marauding Jap Zero fighters, they can’t catch us here!
Our Dornier is about to depart to sanctuary in southern Australia, we’re in the...
Wednesday 29th February 2012 2:23 pm
ALMOST ASHES
ALMOST ASHES
A room, just a room. Feel the sense of history
here, heavy as lead and as poignant as pain.
Aspects come into focus, heavy thick carpets,
waxed English tables. Silence. Total.
A view on a room, from the doorway after.
What went on here? What decisions were made?
History’s biggest gamble, to fail paid in blood
and men and tears.
To suc...
Wednesday 22nd February 2012 12:15 pm
LOST SOULS
LOST SOULS
The crime is with the leaders, you caused the death of thousands,
destroyed two cities. Cursed your generation so it became the guinea pig,
the atomic generation. You all glow in the dark, legacy lasting to my life.
Now more have the bomb, ten thousand times bigger than the Hiroshima firecracker,
that destroyed your city. Old people walk happily down t...
Monday 20th February 2012 4:02 pm
The Unknown Child
Sunday 5th February 2012 8:31 pm
SENT
SENT
Sent out in our steel coffins to hunt enemy ships now the siege of Leningrad is broken, into the Baltic for some payback. Doing our duty for the Motherland in the Great Patriotic War, against the Nazi’s.
In the Devil’s own submarine, lucky 13. S13 proven in battle with the Finns some years before, that time they nearly sank her but failed. Repaired, she prowls the small inlan...
Sunday 22nd January 2012 2:02 am
MISSING
MISSING
Hurricane fighter plane dives through clouds towards the ground,
he goes down through the thick grey murk, no one can see him or knows
where he is going.
His wingmen landed some time ago and still there is no trace of him.
Is he gone, his plane so many smashed pieces of metal or burnt ash?
The dogfight was fast and swift with many planes turning and r...
Tuesday 3rd January 2012 11:50 pm
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