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The Final Act

 

He seemed to be a worthless bloke—a village ne'er-do-well;
Unkempt and dirty, lived his life alone.
He scrounged around for food scraps, ate the stuff unfit to sell.
A misfit there from whereabouts unknown.
 
And someone called him Jack, although they didn't really know
His history or his background from the past,
And many were annoyed and they just wanted him ...

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WarHeroismTrauma

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...

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War

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 ...

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warpeacelifemusic

Lining The Pockets

 

Harsh odours filled the war torn air,
Napalm dropped as if with no care,
tortured children screamed as they ran,
clothes ablaze due to one foolish man...
 
Not that he was there to witness the scene,
at home he could ignore the very loudest scream,
thousands of miles from those he did command,
more pointless deaths we could not understand...
 
From ...

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War

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...

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Wargrief

Legacy

 

Don't ever think that you could be naive,
just because violent deaths make you grieve,
for the choice to kill is itself an unwordly act,
beheading party goers is abhorrent, that's a fact
for to kill is only to invite revenge to come your way,
many can be sure that is how they will die one day.
 
In the long history of violence it is plain to see,
those that...

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PeaceWar

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 ...

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PoetrypoemconflictwarCorruptionpeace

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...

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war

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,...

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warbabies

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'...

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poetrywarworld war one

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,

...

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war

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...

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warsnowicegirlnorwaybomberdeath

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...

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sniperimperial japan armyfar eastww2austrailiawarmendeath

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...

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fighter pilotplanepilotwarbattlesky

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...

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warjapandutchaustraliaflying boatsfightersdeathpeople

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...

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d-dayhitlerwarnazialliesgermansww2battlegamblewin alllose all

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...

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waratom bombhydrogen bombnuclear warhiroshimanagasaki

The Unknown Child

 

I am the unknown child the stork didn't bring,
my mother struck down during endless bombing,
no chance had I to ever see the light of dawn,
or graduate from milk to rusks made from corn.
 
The web can reveal the millions that died in war,
those that were soldiers and sailors and more,
the many others who died without raising a fist,
but who counted the babi...

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warLossChildren

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...

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s13soviet submarinewarbaltic1945

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...

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missinghurricaneme109pilotswardeath

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