THE PEACE SHUFFLE - 17 POEMS OF PEACE AND WAR

Flowers

Put your flowers in the barrel of a gun and cry, not

on the ground where the women and children lie,

not carried by drones into the centre of the city, not

in rock and dust and twisted concrete and iron,

not on the streets of Copenhagen, Dunblane, Jokela

Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Prague: not in a thousand

other places, just in the barrel of a gun, and cry.

Helen Fry

Trauma

Your lover leans down,
his mouth approaching yours.
You want to close your eyes,
feel his warmth.

Suddenly it?s the cat that used to visit you
in the dark, in Moria camps.
It was skinny as sniffing children lying next to you.

Each night it would take something away,
your bread, your doll, your breath.
I think last time it wanted your flesh.

Sarwa Azeez

Asylum

They landed on that dark forbidding shore,
Though fugitive, they were at least alive.
They considered what the future days might bring
And were reluctant to think of it.
They fled from terror to deliverance.
But where's emancipation to be found?
Desperation had brought them to this pass
And desperation marked the full extent
Of the bleak promise of their future hopes . . .
Which were to be denied.

Joseph Sinclair

Rome?

Will the Senators of Rome

Risen again in American Conscience

Seek the return of the bloody games?

War in Europe

War in the Middle-East

War in Old Glory

I do not think of Rome

I think of peace

GK Grieve

Her Body Wants To Speak

Nena¹ says: this war is getting chronic
she points to the old radio
where a man?s voice is growing
louder, and louder.

"Nena! What is chronic?"
She stares into my eyes
but no words come out of her scarred mouth_
I think her body wants to speak for itself.

When I say body
I mean her war-marks.

¹Nena means Grandma in Kurdish

Sarwa Azeez

Chiselled Crystal

So you think peace be easy,
Not with footprints landed on ere,
Beat of hearts leave mankind
Alive the darkening shadows of
minds which throw,
Goodness tries to prevail
In the path firery pursuit,
Transcending morn till dusk
Till it devours our time
Peace seeks out above
In twinkling crystals onto frosty
earth below.

Bev Sanbrooke

a new battleground

the only thing showing from the sleeping bag
on the damp sidewalk
is a leg stump

Alan Bern

THE STENCH OF WAR

The stench of death pervaded
Every putrid, pestilential molecule
Of flesh which littered the ground
That yesterday had been a haven
Of tranquillity.
And all they had intended
When first they set foot
Upon that placid place,
Was to protect their concept
Of peace . . . Or so they said!

Joseph Sinclair

Maybe Humanity just has a Sixth Sense about these things??

What are acceptable losses?

Dead people.

What is collateral damage?
Dead people.

What is war?

Dead people.

Trevor Maynard

The Long Road to Peace

U.N committee sit

Speak, prevaricate

Abstain

While hospital fill, full

Fall to rocket fire

Children die

Even a long road starts with a single step

Cardigan

The wearer of the Christmas cardigan

Watched the news with unease

Hamas certainly vile and bad

Justifying Israeli boots to stamp down hard

But

Now the blood in the treads

Is far more of the innocent than the guilty

And the question (from his comfortable hearth)

The wearer asks is:

When is enough, enough?

Terry North

Greed is not need

World Peace is possible

If we commit to solving issues

Without violence

It can be done

War -what is it good for

Nothing is gained

Too many are harmed

Populations decimated

Infrastructure destroyed

And all because of greed

Gill Bell

Trumps

Back in the days of Osama

America put playing cards

On its most wanted

But now, where are the cards

for Putin

for Haniyeh

Is this no longer a game the West will play?

PD Laurent

Our Times

I awake but don't feel the same
So much turmoil, pain, anguish going on
Snuffing out of voices, intellects, kindness, in an instant
Don't you just miss the way it was?
My hairdresser says as she snips away
Chatty women all around, trying to go about their normal ways
In a world, we hardly recognize
I avert my eyes to a simple flower and bunny on a suburban lawn
My little grandchild takes my hand to proudly walk
Nature and new life, alas, hope for the future

Madeline Heit Lipton

As I Look Back I See.......

As I look back I see,

What is waiting up ahead for me.

As I look back I see,

What all happened in the past has come to haunt me.

Knowing I will be 6ft under someday,

Doesn?t mean my hair won?t turn an ugly gray.

As I look back I see,

Turning into a pillar of salt,

Looking back on the past,

Is that really what is best for me?

Faye Rose

Impossible

Peace achieved through war

That will never be the case!

An impossibility

We humans have yet to face

But we go full steam ahead

As our enemies we try to erase

Attempts made to stay at the winning end

To avoid that embarrassing about-face

The rhetoric and vitriol aplenty

As all of humankind suffers in this time and space

Sandrea Flowers

From War to Peace

Emergent reports stress loss and deficit

lulls escape sleep enhancing deep breaths.

Virulent messages blast across multiplying mediums

soft creativity innovates consistent global security.

Chaos engulfs nations eating away resources

empathy absorbs anger and amplifies humanity.

Violent disgust pulls on internal organs

hopes of peace dominate community conversations.

Digital programming drowns out cries for help.

Open communication destroys escalating conflict.

Regina Stone-Grover