Calling All Poets/Creative Minds to A Grand Collaboration – Poets for Peace

July 16, 2016 by forgottenmeadows 1,098 Comments

image copyright neha 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Everyone,

This collaboration is initiated by my talented friend Michael (M. Zane McClellan)  from the poetry channel and will be hosted here on forgottenmeadows. Many wonderful bloggers like Marie (https://writingwingsforyou.com/), Kim (https://zipsrid.wordpress.com/) and others have helped in putting this together and spreading the word out. The deadline for contribution is August 31st, 2016! I urge you to help us make this creative effort successful by joining in.Below is Michael’s message:

“In response to the recent unceasing, and, in fact escalating global violence, we have seen and felt a corresponding surge in poetry about it.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to share your thoughts and feelings, a piece of yourself, to add to other Poets from around the world. We are hopeful that the combined weight of our collective spirit and wisdom will be felt worldwide as well.

The only restriction is that absolutely no hate is expressed other than the hate of violence. Any and all words will be appended to the running poem. This is not about ego, so you retain the rights to your creation, we are only interested in doing what we can to stop the violence.

Please share your poetry and your platform to spread the word for Poets everywhere to unite in this effort we are calling, “Poets for Peace.”

Google +1 it, Tweet & share it on Facebook, wherever you are able. Hashtag #PoetsForPeace

We will combine all contributions and welcome suggestions for what to do with the resulting collaborative Poem…”The Poem Heard ‘Round the World” something that would make Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, and Martin Luther King Jr. sigh.”

Michael has helped us get started with his piece below. Please join us by placing your contribution in the comments section or by spreading the word through reblog or social media #PoetsForPeace. I will add all contributions, in the order they come in different colours and list the contributor in the same colour at the end of the piece. To see an example of a past collaboration click here. Hope to see you all join in and help share this wonderful initiative by Michael.

I want to live in a world
without mushroom clouds,
drive-by shootings,
and tear-gassed crowds.
Without ethnic cleansing,
or military coups,
Blacks versus Whites,
warring Arabs and Jews.
Give me a world
without nuclear missiles
where there are no rapes,
or indifferent dismissals.
With Protectors and Leaders
who do as they are charged,
seeking justice, and safety,
for the world at large.
I dream, for everyone,
a planet without walls.
Healing hands to hold
when one of us falls.
Where education is the answer,
rather than a cage with bars,
and we value all life
more than flatscreens and cars.
Give me a world of one spirit,
if not of one people,
and faith not confined
to stained glass and steeple.
A world without hatred, apathy,
and fear,
a place where kindness is valued,
air is fresh, and water clear.
Give me a world,
in this time, in this space,
a world of love, forgiveness,
and grace.
If you can’t give me all that
give me one thing at least,
If you can’t give me all that,
give me Peace.

the battlefield listens
hearing only the heartbeats
beneath the barrages
of bullets and bombs
death drawn to the sounds
paints its terrible targets
indifferent to why
soldiers take up their arms
caring nothing for politics
wholly unmoved by the
arguments for and against
right and wrong
once the war is engaged
no opinion or cause
deters death from its duty
to silence the heartbeats
of numberless bodies
when possible
whole generations
no matter the uniform
unlived potential or
state of the soul

and yet even with truce
the battlefield never
indulges in sleep
death just picks up its stakes
and moves to new ground
a new killing field
willing and able to serve
death’s dominion
receive its allotment of blood
so long as at least
two hearts beat in this world
death will foment for war
for the ultimate quiet
that follows extinction
unless human hearts
find the mettle and means
to confront death’s agenda
with no less than
death’s own tenacity
fully committed to
killing the killer
in order to bask in the peace

 

What happened to lessons learned

From Vietnam? From Wars Slogans-

What have we gained? Shipping Our

Youth again… marching down a jet’s belly,

Or sending them crammed somewhere

Across the sea to a destination abroad.

Why awaken the scary Balrog with

His breath of fire and his whips of flame?

Another war machine hungry to conquer,

Thirsty for blood, creating havoc, howling

With guns- seeking power, seeking fame.

Heavy smoke and grey clouds are spreading

Through the land. Fear mongers yelling and

Shouting crying wolf, when will we learn to

Hear the lies? Security, prosperity, sovereignty

Are the products of peace not war. When will we

Understand? Some their children followed the pipers-

To green fields with rows upon rows of white graves.

How many more beloved sons and daughters must we

Pay with their lives? When will we ever figure out the game?

Echos are heard now from the valleys, from the rolling

Green hills, from dwellers rushing rising with

The sun, on the highways to earn their living-

The echo of their song: Let us live in peace, live and let live , they’re singing,

We can hear the lies, no more wars, no more death.

They are singing: Let the sunshine in. Let the sunshine in.

 

There is a time for war, and peace
you don’t get to gut me
like a fish
I have to for myself
in war against vulnerabilities within
my bowels, opened before hate
I have to lie with atrocities and anger
and smell this cruelty, ripen
from deeper cuts
No, this is no time for peace
I must bleed out my
iniquities
let my own blood – stain the platform
with sorrow’s knife
as ingested apathies spill.
My mouth
must be pierced and lifted
from these murky waters
where the world is only a passing stranger
then, when you approach me hungry
I can give you the peace left in my dwelling
and say-

here,
this is my empathy, this is my love
my kindness, my forgiveness, my hope
for you, this is me asking forgiveness

before the whole world
one person, at a time
starting with the ones I despise
or thought unworthy
of my gutting~

 

So much innocent blood spilled, random acts of pointless violence,

We remember the fallen, mourning their lives in sorrow, in silence,

Naive, I thought humanity’s ties were built to last,

I was wrong, unity and peace now seem so far in the past,

Is this the final nail in the coffin, hopes death knell,

Has the world torn apart, broken, gone to Hell,

I have but one question to ask my friend,

Will this nightmare never end?

 

Peace show your face
in this pitiful montage we have created…

i

Slowness drips, replaying tragedies
time and again.
Blood dribbles and over time, dripped,
dry crimson scabs – are picked at in anger.
Free flow from a heavy, metal heart –
and anxiety – to be kind,
blasts away endless possibilities
sending limbs and souls
to the pavements or sidewalks,
when bullets or bombs marked as extras
interrupt our lives in many busy
market places – and on many busy roads
as we go about our everyday.

ii

The fluidity in our veins
pumps out to merge with unhealed scars
from old scalding baths of achromatic
rivers long since congealed – solidified
relentless oppression and persecution –
trapping us all in wounds – lest we
be excited by healing – all amidst
anxiety – to be kind.
Whether the bombs are for wayward gods; to be kind,
for it seldom ever is, or bullets in self defence
or out of fear, or blind panic – to be kind,
or meant to wound us with venomous hatred
and extremist ruby rhetoric, or perhaps
just because we can – then perhaps
we should just stop!
Blood is red, bland world, real blood
that flows inside of reality and inside
of our veins – not ichor, we are none
of us Gods – and therein lies the rub.
May the God of War send us peace.

iii

Restlessness is a dangerous beast
to tether – it roams our streets and avenues;
cast adrift despite the heavy set concrete –
pounding unrest tells us, ‘beware one and all’.
Plots of disaster are hatched in crimes against
each other, and we fall on humanity’s shrinking
ears; we are more harmed than ever forewarned.
Raging torrents swell – all made of words –
flagrant misuse arms those forces hitherto
asleep with precision injured excuses,
and they become driven, and we allow it.

iv

Make sleep all ghosts and quell their voice.
Insatiable voyages allow no rejoice; war
after wars are fought and lesions bared after
healing – no one is repaired.
So sleep and be still, set free all prisoners.
Let the calm before the storm be the calm
of future ghosts. Make calm the past and present
wherein lay all hosts. Fight for freedoms, won
under carmine sun, not bloodshed –
my own heart’s war, which is war made merciful,
beats when it is wakened…
Let Peace pour mercilessly instead, and bring
Equality for all.

Let earnest will
beat away our sorrows.
Fitfully still
not with fitful dread,
And we will beat today’s
ghosts driven by tomorrow
and not be beaten
by them instead.

 

What the world is now
Is not the world we mommmas
Dreamed of while rocking
Our babies and cradling souls

We clutch our children tightly to our chests and weep
For this world of fear and hatred
And disrespect for fellow man
Our tears falling like torrential rains.

What the world needs now
Is love, peace and kindness
Radiating from OUR FAMILIES FIRST
To sisterhoods and brotherhoods

Forming compassionate communities
HOLDING SPACE FOR PEACE.

 

that sound

waves merging then
parting like

the subtle breath
of strangers
brought together

in a cold room
to share warmth

no pattern here

one meets another’s
shadow and

a lessening occurs
in the transfer

this is peace: loss,
gain, compromise,
talk, exchange

so simple
as in one wave

curling
to meet another

 

 

 

I’m sick of the sight of the sight of bloodshed and tears,
Where social media serves only to perpetuate fears.
Where hate makes more noise than love or peace,
Death echoing in Turkey, in Iran, Belgium, and Nice.

I dream of a day when our news stations fall silent,
When we glorify great thinkers instead of the violent.
No. There’s not much money in peace, happiness, or rest.
Convenient then that our leaders say the fight for ‘freedom’ is best.

Ask, where’s the freedom in oppression and hate?
In walls, and assault rifles, and climbing mortality rates?
We’re jaded, and anxious, and we’re afraid of our future.
Please. No more armies. No more ‘collateral damage’. No more sutures.

 

They say a poet is just a dreamer
yet I dream for better days of peace and love
where the flags fly high
not set half=way down,
the daily reminder
of someone, something lost yet again,
never too much to ask
of this world now swirling with hate
with mistrust
and endless debate
between them and us
but are we all not searching
for the very same thing,
a better day of laughter and joy
and the only tears felt
are not from the red rain that keeps falling
down on this world.
They say a poet is just a dreamer
yet I believe that we can create change
with words of healing, understanding and
faith that tomorrow will be a place
where children can walk without fear,
where every soul can be free of terror and war
and where a hand held out in peace
cements the trust given
and as we wrap our arms around each other
every race and creed will believe
in the dream of humanities, of love.

 

Everyday it would play

on her mind it would prey

Images of hate and murder

on her heart a boulder

The world was bleeding

everywhere fear was breeding

going to the airport filled her with dread

on streets she carefully tread

In the name of religion,killings

to hate them all she was willing

Her children to school would go

unrest in her heart would grow

for monsters lurked in shadows

bitter insane ,worlds greatest foes

ready to destroy and ravage

hearts black and savage

Making the world unstable

and innocent lives unpredictable

A light in her heart shone

to hate she was not prone

Hug her children tightly

take her life a little lightly

Thank God for all the blessings

more cheering less stressing!

And pass on to the world some love

a helping hand ,of kindness a treasure trove

And never stop giving

Till her life she was living

For it was easy to hate in the sadness

But would take some love to rise above the madness!

 

I am sick of it.
Pissed! FURIOUS of
Gushing blood
Wailing, tears and devastation
They knew, the ones who protect the state
Did no better
They knew
Who the monsters were
Today Nice
Before Dhaka,Brussels, Paris, Turkey, India and other distraught places.
What are the governments across world doing. What is the security and intelligence service doing?!
Press conference for “solidarity” by various foreign dignitaries
What use is that
If NOTHING IS BEING DONE!
Why not take action , join allies and abolish the monsters that kill the innocence and the innocent, and spread fear and grief world over.
Why wait for procedures and political escape
All chatter when all we need is action, peace and time to heal
From the wounds that would never be forgotten.
Souls lost too soon,
What should we civilians do.
Other than “be STRONG”
Or put up with it.
The news goes on next three days, new headline, a career made.
The tweets, change in pictures, digital display of compassion
What good is that
Stoking our egos for a moment in time, deluding ourselves into feign “support”
When all of us are just helpless
And no place seems safe.
I won’t put up tweets, change the display pictures, all that is such a waste. Aren’t you sick, there are too many of them?
Forget compassion, support, we need to get angry
We need our respective goverments to stop with useless speeches and make a plan
A solid one
So we won’t be bombarded with any more of such horrific, heart breaking news again.

 

How To Get Over:

we are muddy,
bodies drained of energy,
our earthy presence, foreign.
there’s so much more life
than the dismantling of lives
over injustices & boundless men.

it is an act of BAD habit,
a surrounding of devilish behavior.
peace is in the thickness
of every beating heart.
it’s time to tap at it–
time to unleash the release.

this is how we’ll get over.

 

Lord
Our love for peace short-circuits in our blood
and a bitter remorse reverse-charge takes toll.
We have lost faith in independence
which to us used to be the sole trader of peace and tranquillity.
We have lost hope for tomorrow
where we used to begin a new life.
We are confused
and don’t know what to do.
Humanity is in replete.

 

Gentle as the Lambs Own Love

Loyal as the Lion’s Heart

Quiet Peace Pervades the Open Heart

That Allows its Gentle Loyalty

and Mighty Compassion

To Abide.

 

 

 

Grow as a lustrous ivy throughout life.
Beset your challenges like weeds do a field.
Sow the world with your exclusive beauty.
Let every passing day find you freer.

We are amnesiacs who lost the plot,
Fumbling toward ourselves, brimming with strife.
Take notice: You are a spark of nature.
Bravely carve your way through stone like water

Eternity is flawless, man’s faults rife;
Cowardice is human, courage divine.
Blessed is the peaceful warrior in life,
Who journeys through the wildwood of psyche.

Our goal is to leave this dark world of strife
And take our true place in something greater

 

LET LOVE OUTRUN HATE

Whilst a world mourns and shakes its enraged fists,
children hover in corners weeping for fathers and mothers lost.
Family days and nights permanently altered
by societal rage as decades of hate spews forth
in fire bursts of deadly expression.

Finally, grief-stricken and hate weary men and women
embrace with the shared tenderness of the ultimate
separation: death.

Death. A terrible thing to have in common.

May love and increase and outrun hate with the ferocity
of a mother lion
and the gentleness of a lamb.

 

It’s Time for Peace©

It’s time for peace

It is time! I hear the calls

From all corners of the globe.

I saw them breaking the wall

In Berlin. I hear peace chanting far East

In Tienanmen Square …over there

Rolling through the green hills

Of China over India and Afghanistan.

South the equator, brothers in new

South Africa, united under one nation.

Echoed in Tahrir Square in Egypt

Time square NY, Champs-Elysee Paris-

Everywhere good people getting together, in the face of evil

In the face of war. Behold, I see the white dove

Spreading out her wings, searching for that

Green olive branch to land-weary and sad.

People are holding up their hands

Together, everybody chanting, all of them saying:

No more hate, no more discrimination.

Our Earth is aching and bleeding

Pleading for her children-Calling for

Peace. Peace. Peace for all.

 

BUT IT WAS JUST A DREAM

Today I dreamt –
of a beautiful world,
with no fear or fight.
Today I dreamt –
of a just world order,
with no wrong but only right.

Today I dreamt –
of people so happy,
that they made merry always.
Today I dreamt –
of the earth so green,
and of warm, soothing days.

Today I dreamt –
about a place so rich,
that it felt to me like heaven.
Today I dreamt –
of the Lord almighty,
with newborn babies – seven.

Today I dreamt –
and in my dreams I saw,
an angel holding my hand.
Today I dreamt –
of a place without money,
and no more poor in this land.

Today I dreamt –
about all the lovely things,
that humans can only imagine.
Today I dreamt –
not about money or power,
but about my kith and kin.

Today I dreamt –
of all the abstracts,
that make us happy from within.
Today I dreamt –
also of evil people,
and how they commit a sin.

Today I dreamt –
and I kept on dreaming,
until I finally found out.
Today I dreamt –
that the world was fair,
but only outside the bout.

Today I dreamt –
until I woke up,
to someone’s shrill scream.
Today I dreamt –
and finally realized,
that it was just a dream.

 

Cool and calm,
You point a gun,
Aim at the crowd,
… and fire.

You take our lives –
Lives of people
You don’t know,
Lives you don’t value.

You believe
You are better.
You believe
We are less.

Our crime
In your eyes
Is to be different
From you.

We are all different.

I am different.
If you had seen me,
Would you have shot me?
Under the cover of hatred,

Under the cover of night,
You would have.

I am not scared of you.
I won’t live my life in fear.

You don’t matter.

The ones you killed do.
The ones who survived do.

We matter.

In the end,
Our beloved souls are remembered,
Celebrated, because of who we were –
Greatly missed.

You shot us.
Whether you did it
In someone’s name
Or your own,

It does not matter.

You cancelled yourself out.

In the end
We are the ones who remember,
Cherish, and Love –
Not you. We do it without you.

Because of you,
You are all alone,
Facing the nonsense
Of your distorted soul.

Shot in turn.

Your lone heart stopped beating – dead.

Our departed live on in our hearts – imprinted on our souls.

 

There is no us and them,
We’re all in this together
Stop pointing fingers.

Our children they cry.
No more tearing each other down,
It’s time to change now.

No more excuses,
we can’t hold on to the past,
It’s time to own up

We see what’s outside
But we can still change our ways
Learn to look inside.

See what’s at the heart,
we’re all brothers and sisters
Each one is a part.

 

Dogs

The wild dogs run,
Through the prairies –
And sanctums of my mind.
Finding refuge, building dens,
In this sepulchre,
Where I thought I’d laid –
Many things to rest.
These dogs dig up old bones,
That I thought I’d buried deep –
Bringing them to the surface,
As if they are some –
Forgotten Treasure.
And when placed together,
They build the frame,
Of the man I am today.
Today I run with the wild dogs,
At peace –
In the fiery prairies of my mind.

 

Love,
like hate,
is a decision we make.
Surely you would not choose death,
but life?
Christ laid down His life
so we could live!Choose life,
choose love,
choose Him!

 

WALKING INTO TOMORROW

Mama I know you are sad…

Cleanse me in cool waters, and not in ripples of blood
Swaddle me with love and understanding,
don’t drape me under a tattered cloth,
piled up for the dead

T’morrow all the birds will sing,
flying through the billow of clouds.

Talk to me about magnificent hawks and majestic eagles
don’t fill my young eyes with swarming vultures
pulling flesh from the fallen dead.

T’morrow bucks will charge the does wildly through the brush.

Smile at me with joy, when the sun is shining down.
Coo at me with laughter in your voice, delight in your heart
and not from a written letter found in your belongings.

T’morrow the sun will shine,
and bees will dance in bountiful fields of flowers.

Mama, I know you are sad,
but remember too that tomorrow
will be better, guns and bullets will disappear
with deafening, destructive bombs, they will vanish too.

T’morrow, infinite rolling hills will sway,
an illusion of thick and lush greenery.

There will be no more intolerance.
No more Black or White,
Red or Brown, or shades of Grey.

Mama, press me against your heart,
and we will walk together into a new and peaceful world
…one step at a time.

 

I felt a bomb explode I shook like a leaf in a storm, what was it for? and will there be more? Scared for myself and for my neighbour who will save her? Who is the enemy when we all live as humans, why the divisions? Do I have to put my warface on and pick a side? I want to ignore the chaos and run and hide hoping to stay alive. Desolation of war half crumbled buildings missing all doors this is the truth that comes with these wars. I have an idea which to me at least seems quite clear, lets all live without any fear, of each other for it makes no sense at all for humanity to fall. Lets live in peace and come to conclusions that we want solutions for ending all wars get brilliant minds to help us achieve cos all we really want is to be allowed to breathe/

 

Time stepped back into valleys of green
lush and in love with the wisdom of eons
peaceful unfurling banners of heart
streamers in rainbow colors tasting
the way it feels to know the hands we hold,
the hands of colors and races and beliefs
all settled into a womb of blended warmth

We are love stepped in to bring forth light
parting the teeth of jagged snares, no
your cold stares blank and baited will not
stop love with conditions set by control
hole up your anger or hate of peaceful glow
abide in the side parting of waters flow- –
love through veins, and hands and eyes alive
we’re breaking that point where one heart stops- -one
breath stops- -the bloodletting must stop, forgetting
differences to spite the differences- -be gone
evil we revoke thee. We, the settled in time’s time
of no more sorrow, but valleys of green will
bring love to gouge out the ways of hate
toward ALL the peoples side by side

Stop the destruction of peoples and find
unconditional love waiting in the lighted cargo
of souls- -apart from your frozen form, see
behind every eye- -colors of rainbows we
are love unconditional, unending, pure
lighted, a gift- -THE gift, love from above
to share, to spread to hold and gift to all
the peoples among all the tribes
throughout the world- –

Heed our peaceful banner
of love unfurled- -Love will be
eternity.

 

I saw him pull the trigger,
And knew that was my brother
I watched him fall,
And knew that was my son.
Thrown to the ground,
I felt her, my daughter
I heard the frightened plea
And knew that was my mom.
It’s so easy to say,
“Oh, that’s too bad…
Good thing it’s far away.”
The problem? It’s right here.
It’s you, it’s me…
Where bullets spray
Terror in the streets
Mourning to the soul song
At the wake and the parade
We think that what happens
It isn’t me… it must fade
But all that happens,
It happens to me.
All that happens,
I promise you’ll know.
Soft whispers of morning
That prey on your heart,
And won’t let you go.
So I wear white for peace
As I hold to another.
Rally to that truth
That holds us altogether
You saw him pull the trigger,
And knew that was your brother.
You watched him fall,
And knew… it was your son.

 

It takes only a moment, to be kind

When human hearts, seek to find

The warmth of a smile, a cheerful face

Love and happiness, without a trace

Of hopelessness or mere despair

We, as one, must show we care

By lending hands to those who need

And stopping those who intercede

As brothers and sisters, together we stand

And Peace must reign o’er the land

 

Blood On Their Hands
Blood was on their hands,
Smelling raw and sticky
Stained the darkest red.
–
Voices whispering pleas,
Beat against deaf eardrums
But getting no attention.
–
Never feeling the last breathe
As it escaped so many,
Caught up in their tragedies.
–
Ignoring over time past,
When the perspective
On killing had changed.
–
Those thoughtless acts,
Resulting in a life lost,
Upsetting the natural order.
–
Indulged in war strategies,
And games, and crimes,
Camoflaged and justified.
–
Drones dropping bombs
Across borders into lives
Counted in the casualties.
–
Acts of violence on strangers,
Turns likewise to neighbours
Whose lives do not matter.
–
Sewing seeds abroad,
To inevitable reap at home
A disregard for existance.
–
And for most individuals,
They only feel the graveness
When death darkens their doorway.
–
They, having done nothing
Until tragedy hits their household,
Are equally guilty in effect.
–
Blood was on their hands,
Clasped in prayer for peace
Only when violence touched their lives.

 

Evil is heartless
Love is kind.
Evil kills
Love heals.
Evil divides
Love unites.
Evil tears us down
Love builds us up.

Evil is evil
Love is love.

History has shown that
Tragedies ensue
When evil fears love,
Attempting to conquer it.

But love is powerful
Patient and kind.
The human spirit
Shines its light in darkness,
Bringing us together,
Giving us hope
That love will always win
In the end.

 

Shalom! Salaam! I come in peace, brother
I’m one of you, I’m not the other
Forget what’s happened, it’s all in the past
Let’s build something together, something to last
What’s done is done, let it be forgotten
We’ve all got to live under the same sun

Not Christian, not Hindu, neither Muslim, nor Jew
You’re just like me and I, like you
Not black not white, Sunni nor Shiite
Let’s sit around and talk, don’t have to fight
Not rich, not poor; who cares how much you own
When all you’ll eventually need is a coffin and tombstone

Not victor, not vanquished; friend, not foe
Why look back, simply let it all go
Forget political affiliation, poverty, privilege
No stereotypes, prejudice or bigotry; don’t judge
Race, gender, ethnicity or nationality
Creed, caste, class or sexuality

Let’s end this vengeful cycle of strife
Bring Lennon’s utopia into life
Don’t let’s propagate any more hate
Let’s try and understand, accommodate
Bury forever whatever our difference
And forge anew with mutual confidence

Seek an answer, question if you must
But do take my hand, in each other let’s trust
Remember the message which we’ve all read
In case you’ve forgotten, this is what it said:
Humanity, fraternity, diversity
Unity, solidarity, one global family

So let’s all of us; you and me; we
Take peace forward till eternity
Aum, shanti, shanti, shanti*…

 

When Words Fail

In the graveyard of sin
Peace lies buried again
After dying a million deaths
With its comrades
Hope, joy, and harmony
The fiend of hatred
Roams around naked
Feeding on the last fragment
Of another body burnt to dust
A bewildered soul hovers
Eyes awash with fading tears

Have you forsaken me?
The Earth wails to the sky
Sadly the clouds sweep away
Even the endless rain
Cannot wash away the stain
Of the blood of innocents
From an ochre land of depravity
The graveyard of humanity
My Earth is now parched
Throttled with rust and dust
What elixir will quench its thirst?

The contagion of hatred
Flows in their veins unabated
The rulers and the slaves
And their blistering madness
Hardened hearts, spreading fear
Reigning with violent terror
Pieces of white, pale as death
On a chessboard set, King against king
Men fleeting, floating, drowning
Somewhere a child washed ashore
A broken doll with owner no more

Listless hearts pound
In time with the funeral band
Outside the burning walls
A wail rips the skies
Lost in the screaming headlines
Of carnage, pillage, blinding pellets
Mowed down, blasted, bombed
Desperate, despondent, helpless
Humanity breathes its last
Alone in a hospital bed

Merchants of doom
Selling salves for the gloom
Twines that held together
Ripped, shredded, asunder
Pick up the strands
Weave them into a shroud
Questions galore resound
In the hospital corridor
Will he live? Is he dead yet
Maybe injured; None answer
Eyes then wander
To the writing on wall –
Silence Please!

And so we remain silent
Words lost in defiance
For how do we answer?
The innocence of our children
Asking why we gave them life
In this world of bloody strife
Whom to blame for the misery
Maybe the dictionary
For it hosts synonyms many
For the word Faith
And one of them
Sadly spells as disharmony

How to disperse this gloom
How to change what words mean
Maybe a collective “No”
To this culture of violence
Can give us another chance
To drink to Peace
From the same chalice

 

Yesterday when I was young
I knew less
I wanted more

Then as I grew in the world around
I wanted less
’cause I knew more

Yesterday
I believed I could solve it

Today
I know that I cannot

For I myself
am part of the mystery
I wanted to solve

 

Your short lived life, child, was already inked.
Long dried on to pages of history books,
where diplomats in neat cut suits –
took smart decisions for land, for money, and for you.

Your years on this much talked of planet
The only one with life they say –
were already penned when powerful men
chose brainless butchering again.
Laws and rules and faith and belief,
clouded their judgement of grief.

You had no say ;
You had no guns ;
no nuclear weapons, no shield against explosions.
Gods and laws and rules and belief,
just sounds trying to creep into
your vocabulary.

Burnt up forests, shattered walls,
Battered buildings and broken roads.
They wrote down every heartbeat of yours,
as they fought over these blooded bodes.

You were too naive, child,
a mere puppet whose strings lie
in hands of men, with neatly cut suits,
and camouflaged boots,
who’re simply trying to protect their
Laws and rules and faith and belief,
and lands more precious than you.

You had your time, child,
Your next will probably be better –
far, far away from where logic bows down to savages.

 

A Poem For The Present

I wake up every mourning
in a world packed to the rafters
with His & Her handguns,
heart hammering and snapping
like a thousand thumbs, fingernails exciting
the iron edges of tribal drums,

green tea won’t work,
even booze makes me nervous–
twitching at the slightest sound,
muttering ’bout the tanking Pound,
studying the cracks in the concrete
on a path to safer ground.

I still got hope,
staring at the glowing banners of Ads;
they show me beauty everywhere,
the sun shining, people smiling without a care,
almost as if this place exists
where you can’t taste the violence
in the air.

 

A Living Corpse

What is this place;
Where cowardice, guilt, panic, regret,
Dance around merrily, mockingly
And in crimes he abet

An essence of darkness
Difficult to erase
Maniacally cackling,
Awaiting his disgrace

A broken grin, eerie
Those bloodshot, watery eyes
Preparing graves of innocent victims
That deserves nothing but despise

A living corpse branded
By Islamic State terrorist outfits
Comfortable amongst this circus of an illusion
There isn’t any sin he didn’t commit

There used to be a faint echo,
Sometime moments of blissful peace
Solemn intricate, deathly silence
From infant’s play and man’s
caprice

The mess he’s made of his life
A million screams, a million curses
A tortured soul, miserably crying
Severed. Shattered. Burning like a furnace.

Sirens. Media. Paramedics.
A convoluted laugh escapes from pursed lips
What is this place? Cold…yet clear
A miscalculation ushering in a apocalypse

Walls and Fences

Isolate; segregate,
Seal; close,

Some people build fences
To keep people out…
While other people build fences
To keep people in,
Each wanting to hold on to all that he can.

Guarding; protecting;
Or maybe preventing control; access or escape.

Some use wood or wire,
Some railings or concrete,
Some people use attitude or prefer silence,
All the while seeking forgiveness and peace.

Racism; Fanaticism; are
Barriers separating us from friends and families.

Looking through the cracks,
We see only the branches,
Step aside a little, the trees are beautiful too,
Radiating from the heartfelt warmth within.

Times are changing,
No time to play dead.

Bring down those fences, take down those walls,
And walk wherever you choose,
Stroll on through; Fenceless.
It’s a good way to begin again.

 

Fear and hope are like two wings of a bird

Today I woke up afraid,
hope struggling to be born
on this very brink, for my sons,

for my city, for my unborn
grandchildren (who may choose
to never come forth, so unpleasant

are we), indeed for my world —
for all that is prized,
hard fought won conceded

cherished revised
overturned allowed to decay
corrected preserved.

It is all in my hands, right here,
opening in its fullness,
unready, burgeoning forth

an infant sure to walk steady
someday, but falling, tripping,
needing guard rails, baby-proofing

and not knowing it. I offer
my small helping of kindness
to this disquieting child,

encourage his fear,
give him reason to hope,
so that wisdom can take root,
dampen his exuberance.

 

You want me to believe that this
World is a terrible place to exist in,
You want me to be afraid to take a step
Outside the comfort of the bricks and
Stones that together form my home, but
You also want me to count each breath
I take inside the warmth of these walls that
I am surrounded by, because these bricks and
Stones are not much for you to turn into
Mere rubble in a matter of seconds –
Seconds fewer than those I would need to
Begin to comprehend the damage in front of me,
And you want me to want everyone I love huddled
Around me, because if they’re not, they could be the
Devastating story that I wake up to next day,
But then again, so could I, no matter where I am,
And you want me to want to pray every second of
Every day to the god I do not believe in, to every god,
In fact, even the ones I have not even heard of,
In hopes that perhaps that’s what the world needs,
Some help from a being much more saner than us,
So that those that stand right in front of you can
Somehow disappear from this world altogether,
To a place where you don’t exist,
But I don’t believe in any god, or in any being
Who could save those that I’m afraid for, those that
I don’t even know, and yet I pray,
I pray for those I know and those I don’t,
I pray even as I sit numb from terror,
I pray, I pray, I pray, and I will continue to pray
If that’s the only thing that I can do,
Because even while scared witless, I refuse to believe
That this world is a terrible place to live in.

 

Peace is strewn about in pieces

Unification is the abstract thesis

Where is the place that each conscience polices

What components returned after mindful pheresis?

The jigsaw is all edges, no center

Half-hearted attempts from return to sender

Official lip service from each power’s contender

Borrowing lines from history’s lender

On which justification does each act depend?

Rationalization piles on with no seeming end

Sooner or later will break bow low to bend?

Will ideological nemesis find footing as friend?

Last resort always seems to ascend the list

Violence and honor clinch in their ancient tryst

Pillow talk lies among bedfellows twist

How to make their passion cease and desist?

Mortality beckons nimbly for those without power

Their lives and their dreams devalued by the hour

Sweet fruits for the future have little chance to flower

Due to distant decisions from some ivory tower

Contemplate the babies who have no choice but to trust

Unaware of the spreading disease of unequal, unjust

Will they become minuses because we are nonplussed?

Will we put it all together before they become dust?

 

The quiet prayers of a poet’s heart…
sometimes lost in the hurt and chaos the world feels…
the prayer for love
the prayer for hope
the prayer for peace
the prayer that the beautiful strokes of nature that surround us
will help us embrace the colors and look beyond the physical differences
the prayer to do good, to be kind,
the prayer that the one smile will touch the mind, of the least fortunate
the prayer that you and I can come together like this
and say all we want is peace, peace, just peace.

 

Evil Falls…

Evil falls
Like a flaming bolt
From an ignorant darkness
Searing all around it,
Uncaring, unhearing,
Untouched by love or reason;
Twists goodness into hate,
Burns fear into our lives
Until we are ugly
Charred remnants,
Forests without leaves
For breathing,
Trees without branches
For shelter,
Earth scorched
Beyond bearing;
Until we wonder
What can survive.
But the phoenix
Rises from the fire
Rich in beauty;
Seeds come to life
Under scorched earth;
And the human spirit
Reaches from the ruins
For all that is good
And just
And right,
Because only so
Can we reclaim
A world worth loving.

 

“Peace”

What can one write about peace?

There is a piece in me that wants to
write about peace, but, I don’t know how.

Maybe ‘cease’ it is all about peace.
But maybe, again, I am wrong.

Shall we ever rest in peace?
And what about the police?

There is indeed crime, and rates increase!
And how shall I explain that to my niece?

What is peace?

 

All through the ages
The sighing of mankind
Has stirred the ageless longing
That speaks behind your eyes
They couldn’t hear in Carthage
Nor can we on riot lines make out
The sound of broken hearts over drum beats out of time.
But deep inside our souls
We are writing a kinder rhyme
One that sings of love
And hope and peace for troubled minds
It’s almost here. I feel it coming
Coming right on time.

 

“Exit”

When blood
Is a river

Drowning itself;
Rage a wave

Self-harming in
The violent crest of

It’s aims, You & I
Forge solace in the

Dove’s alto on
An oak branch,

The dance of
Resurrected blossoms,

Brick parishes whispering
Vespers & intonations.

Together we dwell in &
Out of time

A present exist, so to speak,
From reverberating blasts

On breaking news abroad &
Popping clips & sirens nearby

Our space exists, collected
In ourselves

In the union of
Our souls

Where we hold close,
At least for now,

In the growing pains of
Our times.

 

We have engaged in war before,
before the war beyond the shore.
And we have shed our blood, and more.
More blood I have not seen before.
We often wonder what it’s for.
For truths abhorred behind closed doors.
Not sure it matters anymore,
any more than the wars before.
The Fates decree, the fickle whores,
Whores sans amore, caveat emptor,
who lives and dies, who thrives. What for?
More war? My God, more war

 

Colorblind

If we could tear color from our sight,
would we see more clearly?
Would it correct the wrongs?
Relieve us of our prejudices?
Pullovers would be based upon
speed or suspicion,
neighborhoods undivided,
capabilities met,
our vision shades of gray.
We’d stroke our slate skin,
bleed gunmetal gray, breathe feathered smoke,
live inside concrete,
wander gardens made of ash.
No more cardinals or bluejays.
Rainbows could be drawn in pencil and
the shavings could be used to scathe our eyes
should a rose dare to bloom a dewy red.
Or an azalea leaked magenta, leaving us speechless,
carving holes of longing in us we didn’t know we had,
before the punctured canvas repaired —
our memories erased of a beauty we were unfit to bestow.
Back to our smokestack camps, lined in hazy sandstone and soiled snow
to view only shades that blind and bind.

Where would the filaments of green and the breathe of blue go?
To Oz, where roads stay carved in golden bricks, next to fields of
red poppies leading to an emerald city,
while we remain in the tornado of black and white?

Would poets no longer bleed pale moonlight and shades of day?
Or dream in color, exhaling violet laughter in crimson corners,
until we regain our humanity,
until we appreciate the glory of our differences,
place judgment upon our character and actions,
understanding we bleed one color,
one,
and that
in itself
is enough
to remain truly
colorblind.

When will we be worthy of living in color?
I ask.
In 2016.

 

If each
And every
One of us
Just refused
To hate,
Together
We’d transform
The world
Into a
Better place.
One where love
And tolerance
Closely interlaced,
In countering
Our baser side,
The stronger case
Would Make.

 

Star of Peace

See that star?
There?
Through the branches
that move and sway.

It is peace,
never really out of reach,
always shining.

But this tree is the discord
that would obscure that star,
keep us from making it our own.

Our hatred and violence
are the wind that would
fan that tree.

There will always be discord,
so we must remove
the hatred and violence,
address it with discourse.

We must still the wind
to keep that star in sight,
and peace will, in turn,
be ours.

 

Silence of Arms

Inseparable.
The people of the world.
Yet, each day
Every man, woman, and child
Struggles mentally.
To be seen.
To be known.
Some with tears.
Others with weapons.
They look to follow
Or, to lead.
Peace does not need
Leaders
Or, followers.
Peace is not to be used.
It must be absorbed.
Recognized
As part of a whole.
It takes a smile.
A handshake.
Honesty.
Absence of greed.
Modesty.
A kiss.
We should reflect upon ourselves
Each day.
When we free ourselves
From imposing hate.
Self-governance
Will prevail.
Coats and patrols.
Capitols and their quells.
Disappear.
We are all here together.
If we are truly alone in the universe
Should it not be the happiest place?

 

O What Do We Know About Peace?

^With a nod to the late, great W. H. Auden,
and in tribute to father’s gentle courage^:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkM-SDNoI_8

Some say it is a fragrant lily
Opened in the morning sun.
Some think it grows in heather fields
Where yearling mule deer run.
I asked the politicians
If its measures might increase,
But they just sent more troops to war.
O what do we know about peace?

Does it taste like dates and honey,
Or like sausages on sticks?
Can you pay for it with money,
Or build it a house with bricks?
Does it make us feel protected,
Like a blanket made of fleece?
Must its pockets be inspected?
O what do we know about peace?

Whenever people disagree,
They claim they’re striving for it.
When sipping from a cup of tea,
Most folks will just ignore it;
The great philosophers have said
We’ll know it when we see it,
And surely as our blood is red,
We ought to fight to free it.

Does it soar like an osprey on steroids,
Or light up the night like the moon?
Could we grab it by flexing our deltoids,
Or float to it on a pontoon?
Does it live all alone on an island,
Or blow where it will on the breeze?
Would it last for a week without broadband?
O what do we know about peace?

I scoured beneath the kitchen sink,
And checked the freezer, too;
I tried to find the missing link
By emptying my shoe.
I followed all the pirates’ maps
That pointed to their loot,
But everywhere X marked the spot,
Its chest was destitute.

Will it come for a visit on Tuesday,
As I’m getting out of the bath?
Will I see it drive by on the freeway,
Or picking up stones in my path?
Does it come with a license to carry?
Can it truly cause terror to cease?
Is a lack of it hereditary?
O what do we know about peace?

When our children are witness to bloodshed,
And murder’s a matter of course,
Should we strap on a nuclear warhead,
Or say: ^mais nous avons des fleurs^*?
Although hate multiplies like a cancer,
^et partout, le méchant existe^**,
Can’t we bolster a child with an answer?
O what do we know about peace?

*but we have flowers
**and everywhere, the bad guy exists

#PoetsforPeace

 

I write peace
Because that’s what
I want ..✨
I weave happiness
Because that’s
How I want
to see the world
I fight darkness
As I want to feel
Alive
I hear it all
Innocents being killed
Children’s cry
I spill tears
I hold my heart
I write a prayer
I try To find
Peace lost forever
I am I will be
Forever
Poet for peace

 

I look into their little faces
bright, innocent, sweet
they know nothing of what has happened
and I wonder
What is this world we will leave them?
I think of the ones taken so suddenly
with no warning, no reason,
And I am afraid to see pictures of them,
a collage of the ones who are gone,
their faces so vibrant moments before
and then suddenly…terror
and after that…nothing.
But they live on in my heart
even if I cannot see pictures of their faces
and I look at my own precious ones
hoping and praying
as mothers do
that such a thing would never happen to them.
I wonder
What is this world we will leave them?
The sun will rise tomorrow.
I will hope and pray again.
And I will look on their faces
with love and gratitude,
relief that they are with me
and I can hold them close.
And I will keep wondering
about this world we will leave them.

 

A call to Peace

All Adorable creatures of God ,

Calling all to unite for one cause,
Against those who hate what we like .
Let’s love one another atleast for a day,
Let this day extend till the end of time.

Together let’s stand holding our hands with love ,
Ought not with lust but with brotherly and sisterly love.

Protect not yourself but the others .
Envying leads to nothingness,
Amicably let’s be one forever,
Caring for the needy and the oppressed,
Enlightenment will truly be showered.

 

mind or skin

if my skin was not black will the hatred end
if my skin was not white will the hatred end
am i colorless – as mixed-race
you are colored – as a mixed-race
can i be invisible
right now you are invisible
and invisible is not colorless
invisible is you see color less
let us talk colorless
yea let us talk colorless
you mean have less color
no i mean have no color
we can be white – white is the absence of color
or we can be black – black is the absence of light
you cannot say black means no light
we just might take it as black means no bright
but i meant you see no white or black
yea but no light is black
so we stay black and white
what about we live black and white
skin
mind
why not skin
why not mind
can we stay colorless – mind and skin
yea we can live colorless – do not mind my skin

 

clouds

            in the 23rd century
will we live in neighbourhoods in the air
clustered around structures huge and bulbous like a
            frozen mushroom cloud

            and will we populate
in tribes and drift in loose affiliation
orchestrated across the vast and barren
            sky or

            will the nations
drift as décor and dissipate as culture
as the wind gets up and reveals glimpses of
            blue sky behind

            will the trees
stand rooted shuffling and shrugging
to provide perspective and direction
            of green silhouette

            and will the tiny
clusters of red berry just fall
or cling to the branch-squalls
            for later in life?

            in the 23rd century
will we forget our distant history far and
bluish on the horizon with hints of cream edgings
            to suggest event

            while distinct-coloured
burgundies and greys and blacks and even blues
once made their one-tracked progress passing on
            to somewhere?

            in the 23rd century
will we look at the grasses and thistles all across each other
under the great and wide and ever-present breeze and remember fondly
            the meeting halls where we talked

            will the old monuments
that talk silent of root and branch long and broad across the lands
have lost their leaves by now and wave to the sky, their windows
            see-through and open?

            in the 23rd century
will we live in all the words we wrote and sent to the skies
and remember only the ridges and valleys of the
            slow-turning earth and

            will our discourse
be shared to saturation and have no need of reach
or distance or hopeful-expression but drift along always
            in magnificent cluster?

            in the 23rd century
will we wonder lonely – in our silence – if light
has sound and dark has colour if far has breath
            and close has taste

            and will we listen
to the dappled pebble and graze the newgreen grassandbracken
and feel that we have done this all before but cannot
quite remember when we gaze upwards to where
            the gods must live?

 

Calling Poets for Peace

Words are scarce to describe this turmoil,
When thousand innocents bleed,
Our hearts are torn down,
When the little ones weep,
Our eyes bleed tears.

Words are scarce to describe this turmoil,
When the world cries for help,
Our knees tremble with fear,
When the children lie lifeless,
Our humanity is questioned for its ruthlessness.

Words are scarce to describe this turmoil,
When the souls depart,
Our hearts seek peace,
When the world searches for peace,
Our world calls all poets for peace…

 

War Cry Of Birds

Her trill lilts through trees,

across the poppy fields,

above the highest mountains

and through the deep valley.

It spills from towers

into the dreams of seekers

bruised from battle.

Unwavering crusaders

soothing the displaced,

the homeless children sleeping

in the streets.

Her bones are set with courage,

eyes deep wells of wisdom.

She sings for you and me

a song of dignity.

 

#PoetsForPeace

Why do they crush innocent lives?

Foster violence and glorify knives,

Killing people in HIS name,

HE who loves everyone the same,

Splitting up hearts with borders and regions,

Dissecting names to dye them with religions,

Millions live in fear, dying an inch every day,

Carrying the burden of lives they lost on the way,

Why do they want Jesus, Muhammad and Shiva to compete?

They only end up humiliating the gods with their deceit,

Often we forget the WHOs and WHATs that we have lost,

Not knowing exactly how much this violence would cost,

Peace can only be a distant dream,

Until we step up to the occasion like a team,

Let’s pray those poor souls may rest in peace,

Let happiness prevail and violence may cease,

Violence may cease…

 

Endgame.

Come, feel my wrath.
Rile against my might.
I am what you should fear.
I am the thorn in your side.
Stop your busy war warmongering
And your butchery.
The blood letting and slaughter.
The taking of the innocent,
And the meek.
Fear me now.

Say my name; Love.
Your eternal nemesis.
Perpetually destroying your legacy.
Eating away your petty victories.
Where you go, there I will be.
A constant resistance.
And one day you will have no power.
You will be mocked, laughed about.
A cruel joke from the past.
Never to be repeated.

 

Born into this world
Only my flesh screams
My spirit sleeps

Unaware of anything
Only my flesh is weak
My spirit stirs

At the mercy of others
Only my flesh is frail
My spirit awakens

The sun is rising
Only my flesh is burned
My spirit warmed

Over the horizon
Only my flesh is tired
My spirit presses

Into the long day
Only my flesh is screaming
No!
My spirit ignores

It’s getting late
Only my flesh is sleeping
My spirit yearns

The sun is setting
Only my flesh is gone
My spirit soars

All we are is one.
All we know is in us.
All we are is from heaven
All we knew was forgotten.
All will be revealed once more.

 

Haiku – Shouting for Peace

Voices like the wind

Mighty, strong, and powerful

Calling out for change

 

Where Does Peace Begin?

“You are beautiful!”
“Your smile is the sun!”
“You are enough!”
“Be happy!”
“Someone is thinking about you!”
“You are loved.”

Bits of love and hope inked on bright strips of paper
float lazily down among the pregnant crowds in the streets.
Watching from the rooftop where I stand throwing my
colorful slips like confetti, joy blossoms in my breast

and my little happy birds glide on an invisible breeze down
to the thickening crowd come to protest the latest righteous atrocities.
Words have power and so I keep tossing mine into the air
letting the wind scatter them to those that need them.

The papers cartwheel and play in the sun as I watch and wait
for fingers to reach up and grab them but the people’s voices
are drowned out as one by one the guns begin their
pop-pop-poping and women scream and children cry

and men run away or to their deaths…
and my little bits of love are shredded by bullets
and left to lie in blood-spattered hands.

#PoetsForPeace

 

We are strung together
from– the same line
hand in hand,
linked like a chain,
holding steady to our roots.
Challenge the wrong doings
Not with fire.
Put down those weapons,
listen to one another.
Rise together for a brighter tomorrow.
Look to our roots for aid,
they will guide us in a time of grief.
Hold steady, hand in hand
together we are strung.

 

Conversations with God

We pray for peace
While arming ourselves…
We pray for mercy
While denying succor to the desperate…
We pray for healing
While shuttering access to care…
We pray for understanding
While building walls to exclude…
We pray for abundance
While hoarding stockpiles of plenty…
We pray for freedom
While expecting that others follow our demands…
We pray for unity
While excluding and setting ourselves apart…
We pray for forgiveness
While judging the lives of others…
We pray for love
While spewing hate in word and deed…
We pray for pure hearts
While our own hearts grow cold…
We pray trusting that God is listening but…
are we?

A Prayer for Humanity

Earth bleeds crimson
droplets, blotting
boundaries, revealing
our fragility and utter
dependency on
mercy’s tender
grace…

May we
embrace the
common cord
that binds our
hearts in one
accord where Love
prevails victorious
and hatred has
no place.

No More…

The increasing number of terrorist-driven tragedies has broken my heart. I do pray for the victims, their families…for our world that is becoming increasingly violent. And I also pray that my own heart will never become cold to the horror of such senseless violence. I pray for peace ultimately. I shall never cease to pray for peace…

News of yet another sorrow
Breaks my heart, already bleeding
Hope for peace, to death conceding
Left to fear the next tomorrow.

Hate infuses to the marrow
Hardened hearts that cease believing
News of yet another sorrow
Breaks my heart, already bleeding.

Horror lurches from the shadows
Evil lies in wait deceiving
Pawns emboldened do their bidding
Brazened hearts who blindly follow
News of yet another sorrow
Breaks my heart, already bleeding.

 

Pixels and Prayers
(Because of how it is)

IMG_2805
Just separate desperate little dots
Are we?
Can we think ourselves
Into atoms?
Can we see between
Is there space
To breath
If we sink
Deep within
Will we disappear
Or understand
More fully
The tiny tessallations
That join to make us whole?

 

Somewhere

Somewhere over the rainbow
Storm clouds rise
False words urge us to hatred
Tangling us in their lies

Somewhere over the rainbow
Missiles fly
Crashing down in destruction
How many more must die?

Each day we wish upon a star
We hope and dream and pray for peace to find us
For hate and war to fade away
For lives lived fuller every day
For something we trust

Somewhere over the rainbow voices cry
Pleading peace and compassion,
One and all – can’t we try?

We’ll see lives left serene; our world rescued
We’ll find harmony together; our bonds renewed
And we’ll think to ourselves
What a wonderful world

I hear voices for peace
Raised to unite
Like me, they
Want to conquer this fight
And I think to myself
We’re a wonderful world

Somewhere
Over the rainbow
…there’s a wonderful world❤

 

Words that need to be expressed as the world seeks for peace.

Over thousands of years, too many innocent lives have been fleeced.

It’s time to demand for peace to reign throughout the earth from sun up to sun down.

Recklessness must not continue to abound, so it’s time to put the guns down.

The purpose for the #PoetsForPeace collaboration

Is to think of alternative solutions instead of seeking to grab the four.

Ethnic groups and political factions fighting against each other have caused so much bloodshed.

Instead of harping on differences, let’s focus on the similarity that when anyone bleeds, their blood is red.

Why do we continue to cry out for peace when there is no peace?

We must continue to remain optimistic until we see all wars eventually cease

 

Hero

I cannot honor lies.
I cannot breathe praises of death.
I cannot take limbs
like those sold to children.
I am mother.
You are plastic in words.
We birth babies. They are flesh,
tears, needs, innocent hearts.
We have limbs.
We have children.
You are empty of mind. You say hero.
You say God. You paint the world
in red and leave the sun behind.
Behind this high wall, untouchable enemy,
mysterious evil, who created your answer,
molded your hero, demonized the child.
Life is life. Mother is mother.
Limbs lost and again you scream hero—
Hero, Hero, Hero.
You say the Earth. You say you own breath.
You say mine is yours.
I breathed life into this land, civilized presence,
gave trees to the sky.
We own life. The invisible enemy.
The flashing hero, painted in red,
dripping color into hollow ground.

 

Please, Put the Gun Down

I know you’ve been hurt.
It stings and tugs at your heart every day.
But why inflict pain
you don’t want to feel?
Why did you let hate consume you?
All that comes from hate is death.

The death of you comes first
as soon as you decide to hate.
Your spirit becomes contaminated
and your soul, dark and heavy,
no longer able to support the life
you were graciously bestowed.

But the spread of death can end with you.
Forgive and peace will enter your heart
and you don’t have to endure the darkness
and pain you have been dealing with for so long.

You’ll no longer be dead inside.
You don’t have to relive those heartbreaking memories.
Make new and brighter memories
and leave the past behind.

I know you have dreams of changing this world
so no one will have to go through the same
trials you’ve traversed through.
This can be changed without violence.
A gentle word can do far more than a gun.

A kind word can change a scathed heart,
clear a mind clouded with fear and thoughts
that cause it to ache.
A gun just ends a precious, priceless life
and strikes fear into others’.

The world wasn’t created to be
a place filled with terror and
strife. We are to build each other up,
help one another live our lives to the fullest
by making each other’s beautiful dreams come true.

Please, quiet those abhorrent thoughts
and put the gun down.

 

Blood of innocents

Once known as safer place
now slowly turning into cemetery,
Where blood of innocents is spilled everyday
and nobody knows the reason, why?
Peace in the world now stands shackled
coz of demons disguised as humans.
Hiding behind religion, they create havoc
seeking for unknown vengeance
they go on killing all.
Millions of families, suffering from their wrath
and many more yet to suffer,
Will their cruelty ever stop ?
Their hands stained with blood
and soul cursed,
will they ever realize what have they done ?

 

Sometimes the sky is not blue, but white,
A backlit theater screen in waiting,
Bright—
Or so I can pretend;
Writer, actor, director of scenes,
The production is my own—I am all,
No in between.
But,

Life is not a movie,
It’s the news on TV, ugly—
Much worse than our screens display it to be.
Murder, xenophobia, police brutality,

Moral corruption.
Missiles on a mission—
Horrific precision…
Let’s make the decision—

Stand up together and shout out for Peace!
Because

Sometimes the sky is not white, but red,
A reflection of bombings, of children
Dead—
And I cannot pretend
Human blood split is colored corn syrup.

 

Come peace,
blossom overnight
like a moonflower, glowing
reflect the streaming light
through gentle winds blowing.

Come peace,
bury your roots deeply
and send your branches high
make of them a sanctuary, steeply
angled green and brown, reaching to the sky.

Come peace,
and war be gone, vanish
as winter snow melts and disappears
running to the sea, then banish
the anger, the sorrow, the hatred, the tears.

Come peace
like a flowing river changes course
pretend it is not strange to turn aside
from destined paths, to value life instead of force,
we will not know until we’ve tried.

 

Reflections on U.S. independence Day, at the End of the World

Fireworks burst above our heads
on an almost perfect summer night, like radiant fingers of gold
twinkling, outstretched –
and I try to see –
how far they reach, and how far they last –
till the next blast.

A deafening burst of color explodes a night of shopping in the holy month.
Rapturous melody falls flat – in the music hall,
the final notes out of beat to the sudden
pop-pop—–poppoppop.
Millions of children sleep on the streets, having fled the terror we fear.
They dream of food, and war, and funerals and war, and almost forgotten faces of friends, and war,
and flags.
Flags that only matter, if you have a home.
Dancers kiss, and love, sweat and sway to the rhythm,
The rhythm that reminds them of family.
The ones they call in a bathroom stall, barely breathing,
“I don’t want to die today. Te amo Mommy.”
School kids are shielded from lone, and lonely killers
by the bodies of their teachers.
Protecting them in their last moments
at least – from the vacant stare of self-hate.
A family drops to their knees and crawls.
The youngest still pulling her tiny Disney Princess suitcase
that holds all her favorite things,
hides under the jetway spattered with blood. Somewhere –
a world away, a grandmother waits for a phone call.

But tonight, it’s Independence Day! It’s different, right?

A mother traces the scars of shrapnel on the growing leg of her son,
and secretly shudders at the clamor of her neighbors’ celebration.
A citizen only 5 years, yet she understands more than many of us born here,
our history – and the hope – of let freedom ring.

But who needs THIS kind of freedom?
A father drives to the convenience store seeking sparklers and s’mores.
“Daddy more, more!” His children beg, staying up late
to wait
for the best man they ever knew.
Who dared to drive in the wrong neighborhood,
at the wrong time, with the wrong body, in the wrong skin,
with the wrong tone, “Officer I just want to get home.”

A young woman lies bloody beside a dumpster, a date becomes predation.
Pain explodes between her thighs, as she comes to.
She hears the distant clapping of the crowd,
and the cheers, or is it shaming, and stares, or whispers, and blaming, and secrets, and expectations, and double standards,
and rape and violence, and rape and terror.
Smoke floats over, she glimpses the stars, and somehow, remembers to wish.

They say freedom isn’t free, but I say it isn’t fair either.
Aging vets, who missed the parades sleep out on the street,
because no one cares of the despair they’ve seen,
on the other side –
of exploding things.
And their aching heads are racked with fireworks tonight,
the sounds of bombs, and the flashes of light.

Colors! We all see in colors – the spectrum of diversity of all beings.
The skin, and eyes, and hair of people – just people –
all looking up, faces alight tonight
with only planned pyrotechnics, and maybe, just maybe,
the hope of freedom, or just a night off with family, or beers with friends,
or even a fucking picnic!
Or how about just a day- to celebrate our DNA!
The way we were ALL made, sharing 99.9% of it-
no matter where you were born,
or where your family was from,
or how much hate you hold in your heart,
about where everyone else is from, we share it!
No matter how much ignorance you stuff into your puffed up claims of
“make America great again.” We share it!
No matter how alone you are with only the voices in your head giving you the time of day. We share it!
No matter how many citizens of our shredding democracy you turn away from the polls. We share it!
No matter how blind you are to the terror occurring everyday, with people of color, being executed for driving, or walking, or working, or breathing, or playing, or running, or living. We share it!
No matter how many weapons you need to stockpile, to protect what is yours.
We share it!
No matter how much you win at gambling, or how many trinkets you buy, turning a blind eye, to the people who actually do have rights to this land of the free! We share it!
No matter how many parents of legal citizens you round up, and send back. We share it!
No matter how much fear you have of absolutely everything, that’s different than you. We share it!
No matter how much God bless America, religious fervor you cling to,
to justify abuse. We share it!
No matter how much nationalism, or is it nihilism, you scream.
Forgetting that some time in our 240 years someone wanted to build a wall, to keep your kind out to!
You don’t belong here anymore than the rest of us!
If all the creatures of the world took a vote today-
we’d be off! The true pests of a planet, as we rape and pillage, scour and cook and poison the earth that seems made, just for us!
And the billions of other creatures that were here first!
That we so gallantly forget, or just annihilate – in our quests for freedom,

that doesn’t look like freedom to those left hiding in the dark,
or to the little child in the backseat, who witnesses murder by the people she is supposed to trust.
Or sound like freedom to those survivors, deafened by the blast.
Or taste like freedom to the hungry waiting for their mother to get home from that market.
Or smell like freedom to the first-responders, and emergency room staff, or to refugees, in camps without sanitation.
Or feel like freedom to those of us who know – that love is ALL!
It isn’t us versus them – it’s only US!
Fast-outgrowing the space and resources of a spinning ball of fire and rock that every human who has ever lived has called home!
It’s only US, that can find a way – to capitalize on our magnificent DNA!
Only collectively can we be free,
and we must learn to see -quickly.
Or there will be nothing left
to celebrate.

 

 

 

Prayer For Peace.
Wish to see the world
In joy n merry making
Chanting hymns of peace
Singing carols of happiness
Together We Stand
Breaking the barriers of Hatred
Praising the Beliefs of All.
Drop the guns
Spill out the venom
Thriving inside
Clasp hands
Form a chain of peace
Laugh out Loud
Spat the chaos burning inside.
Hey Brother
The day
You extend hand of peace
All the chaos n conflicts
Will wipe out from the devil mind
And
You will feel feather light.
Gaze at
The greens & the colorful blooms
Spirit of peace
Will arise n linger
In your soul
And
Your body will feel fresh n crystal clear.
It’s time to wrap up hatred
And
Bring in peace
To tame the minds
Which are in unrest
And
Thus Peace prevails
Which is absent
Since Many years.
Wish to see
Break of a Dawn
Promising peace n harmony
Everywhere
Crumbling & burning
The hatred n fear
Cracking a sparkling Smile
On faces of all
And
Minds be clear
Ties of Faith on Each other
Glues Us Together.

 

Why so much hate?

Why so much sorrow?

Why can’t we create

For our children

Better tomorrows?

Why division

Instead of unity?

Why suspicion

Instead of charity?

What makes us so different

We wish others’ misery?

What makes one’s way of life

Better than someone else’s?

Why can’t we live in peace?

I wonder, when will we learn

our neighbour not to judge, and cease

To fight? Let us speak up in turn

Against violence, near and far

And let us celebrate life

And do our best to heal the scars

Left by hate, anger and strife

May we all join together

Vow to spread more humanity

Let’s make the world better

And work tirelessly

Not towards changing our neighbour

But aim to change ourselves, humbly

And over and over

Relentlessly

Learn to love each other

Unconditionally.

 

Peace drops with the dew,
Ripples in the blackbird’s throat,
Curls with the vixen and her cubs,
Sucks its thumb with the sleeping child.
Peace falls with the first rays and the last,
The moonlight and the sunlight,
And it threads among the stars,
Into the secret dark of space.
But not here, buzz the black flies of war,
In these shiny, polished rooms,
Where men is suits or long black robes
With stones for hearts and blinkered eyes
And money in vaults and protected lives
Plot and plan with long, cold fingers
To steal the song from the blackbird’s throat,
The peace from the vixen’s joyful cubs,
And fill the limpid dreams of the sleeping child
With the bloody sludge
Of nightmares.

 

Now I see the clouds
And the rain it predicts
As the forecast depicts
A storm is coming
And its heading our way
Its been 100 years since our last encounter
And you seem to be standing on your feet
Crippled, Maimed
Halfburnt to death
Friendless, No family
Not even a single dime to whine
But you seem stable
My name is violence
I’ve come again for the remaining leg
You shall never walk again
I see a loophole
As with contempt
You view thy neighbour at the corner of the eye
Subconsciously stripping his title
The colour regime has infected you
And in your dreams as you wake up and sleep
You can’t wait to lift that machete
To throw that stone
To stampede over millions innocent live
During the 100 year war you promised
You promised…
That you wouldn’t do it again
That you would respect life

That the generation coming up
Would grow up
That you’d think before you act
That your every action would peace impact Justice
I’m knocking at your door
It’s wise if you let me in
I thought that this world knew democracy
But today all I see is hypocrisy
Where corruption has contaminated everything
Where injustice has now flooded your just system

This world is ours
None of you will ever admit that together your stronger than Me

 

this morning
i woke up
feeling helpless

this afternoon
i found a nestling
actually helpless

this evening
i went to bed
feeling hopeful

find your nestling
find your beauty
find your hope
be the hope

 

What is True?

Sometimes, when I hear
another story about
the atrocities committed
due to disagreements about
what is true
I wonder if I am simply dreaming.
How can this be?
How could you look at someone and say
If you don’t think the way I do
then I will kill you ???
Most people I know
know that truth is variable;
it changes according to who is thinking about it.
And variability is good!
It’s interesting!
It’s a fertile place for discussion,
for creativity,
for innovation,
for synthesizing many ideas
into an incredible solution
to the problems facing us today.
And…If we were all the same,
wouldn’t life be boring?
Will we one day understand
that we can sit together
and love one another
and help one another
and respect one another
even if we don’t agree on what is true?

 

Broken World

Our hearts are breaking
Our globe is in disarray
Hate and greed prevails

Our hearts are breaking
Our world’s being torn apart
With our bare hands

Our hearts are breaking
As bullets rip through bodies
Of known and unknown

Our hearts are breaking
Another girl-child raped
By known or unknown

Our hearts are breaking
Yet we make each other bleed
Day by day by day

Our hearts are breaking
There can be no healing them
Until we find peace

 

John’s Refrain

We could imagine
A world without rape or tears
A world so at peace

We may imagine
A world without greed or strife
A world that’s at peace

We should imagine
A world without guns and bombs
A world so at peace

We might imagine
A world without fear or lies
A world that’s at peace

Dare we imagine
A world without religion
To gain our world’s peace?

 

Perhaps it is true that we only change worlds.
Often as simple as just changing a few words.
Words that are impeccable; written after thinking.
That is what a poet can do, for those who actively
seek and pursue a greater peace.

One can see poetry in nature, the visit of the heron –
This morning at the creek reminding me to live in the
gift of the present; while I enjoy my solitude there are
times that an individual needs to be part of a team to
seek and pursue a greater peace.

There is life. Life that is precious, sacred and blessed. It is
only a few that take to imposing their impossible dreams
of fruitless domination of all that lives to mask their own
insecurities because they have failed to learn how to
seek and pursue a greater peace

 

Critical Mass

One of my students said
I am an atheist.
I don’t believe in God,
but I have always believed
in the goodness of humanity.
But now, after what has happened recently,
I’m having trouble believing
in humanity.
And I could really hear him.
I could see the sadness,
the doubt, the heartbreak.
I believe in critical mass,. I said.
I believe that if enough of us
think good things and do good things,
there will be a wave of goodness
that will shift this world to a better place.
And, there are so many good people out there.
Yes, a few can harm a great many,
but a few can also help a great many.
Let us focus on the good.
Let us eat, sleep, breathe and dance goodness.
Let us be a part of the critical mass
shifting the world to a better place.

 

Poetry Heard ‘Round the World

I wish I could tell you that everything changed
We all know the world is the same
Walk in the light while we hide in the shadows
Yet all of us stand in the blame

The children, the teachers, the lovers, the blue
The innocence bled through the vein
The bombs, the bullets, in the silence of lambs
While all of us stand in the rain

So what does it take to bring peace to the world
In our streets, our cafés, our hearts
Our children still carried from school to the grave
While bureaucrats tear us apart

Our drones with their missiles, our jets with their bombs
The order to kill upon sight
Our high powered rifles can slaughter the crowd
Yet innocence dies in the night

Peace is not found leaving blood on the roses
And killing just magnifies hate
We all stand in prayer when they march into hell
While governments open the gate

So what does it take to bring peace to the Earth
While all common sense comes unfurled
Perhaps it’s the sharing of love with another
In poetry heard ’round the world

 

Who better to bear the baton

Than us, the peace-makers,

Champions of the ink-slinging

And masters of penmanship.

Who better,

To make the world aware of its decline

Than us, rather me

An individual who’s always

Deep in internal conflict

Seeking endless betterment of the self.

Is it wrong of me

To say i’m sick of the pointless killings?

So they can’t prove their point

Through verbal means;

Does that equate a gun

As the best alternative?

Weakness doesn’t begin to describe

The flaw in that rationale;

As an advocate for light i’m ashamed

To call myself human.

Surely, you realize

Our enemy lies elsewhere

Yet all we do

Is kill each other before

We face the real threat that lies

In the darkest recesses of the abyss.

I’m not arrogant,

But i’m not entirely humble either;

To topple the enemy that

Threatens the very existence

Of the human race turning a blind eye

Is leagues away from the solution .

I refuse to wait before the weak-willed

Who deem themselves powerful

Push to establish their power motives

At the expense of human lives

While I wait for a change of heart.

No, to hell with that,

I will channel all I have ,

Ink and all, to the center

Of their consciousness through

A plethora of penned lines

Exorcising the demons that reign

Over their hearts.

 

On April 20th, 1999, This Poem Might Have Been Called Here’s What We Know

They started flying years ago: numbers
like bullets. How many dead, how many
waiting in the execution chamber—
the library? the planet?—Val? Cassie?

When we talk, we keep our teeth together—
Steve? Shots continues after cops make a ring—
as if we’re talking about the weather.
Any discussion? About repeating,

not healing. Daniel, Corey, Dave, Daniel.
Pipe bombs planted through the city—shots—
not healing: Isaiah, Matthew, Rachel—
my heart turns to smoke, my mind is a clot.

Gun control – media – parenting woes.
Victims—they started flying years ago.

 

Let us find hope 

in the words of peace

in the words of love

in the words of each other

crafted consciously from the heart

to rise above the grey cloud

that pierces us in ways beyond our control

let us control what we choose to spread

to share in this beautiful world

Let humanity bind us together in peace

 

I need more time

For quiet,

For peace,

For nothing,

Without interruption

For hours on end

To find myself,

My soul,

My essence,

My joy.

The world has gone crazy

And I don’t know how to

Make it better.

 

What can I say, do, that

will

make the difference. The
Pen and the Sword –
hasn’t

it

become clichéd.
I don’t even know, does
anyone?, what will

be

(not) the end of it all.

Barbaric, this day, this
age’s inability to
discuss political difference.

How can it still be

okay?

to terrorise a world’s people
into submission.

 

HARMONIC CONVERGENCE

Let there be peace inside

My personal universe

Heart and Brain hosting an

Alignment of symbolic planets

Spinning inside the

Dark space that always struggles

To bring the light of truth

Then let it spread to others

Singular experiences

Singing into the aethers

Let there be peace inside

Let there be peace outside

Let there be peace…

 

Transcending Duality

When life feels lighter than a feather

We actually want to spend time together

Through untold and most unwelcome madness

A small light penetrates perplexing vastness

Radiates, patiently, an auspicious reality

We are slowly transcending duality

Let each soul take its destined flight

Soar to the highest of heights – make it all right

In the deepest chambers of our bleeding heart

We know, no one person should feel apart

Hear the whispers disseminate down from up above

A gentle reminder that love is love.

 

Peace starts with me

Peace be with you.
To greet another.
Instead of ‘Hello’.
Peace be with you.

Fear handicaps peace.
Fear of another religion.
Fear of another race.
Let us overcome fear.

Peace starts with me.
A heart must have kindness.
Anger cannot rule.
Each day a work in progress.

It is easy to start a war.
Lash out without thinking.
Let anger take control.
Stop this. Learn from mistakes.

Let not anger fester.
Instead let kindness in.
Do acts of kindness.
Think kind thoughts always.

Peace be with you.
Can I start this today?
What will your answer be?
Peace be with you. I hope.

 

Dusk nears
As tears
Fall
Blackness covers
A broken world

Stars shine
Even though
Still
Hope hovers
A broken world

Sunrise promises
New mercies
Joyful
Hearts recover
A broken world

Light takes
Over all
Evil
Love delivers
A broken world

 

Nameless faces,
flashed on the t.v
War’s overseas
and in the streets
Endless debates
on who’s right or wrong
The earth feels cursed,
and it hurts
I hold my pen tighter,
write my rhymes
with a floundering faith,
each line a silent prayer
I’m too young
to feel this tired inside my soul
Hoping to see a change,
in this lifetime.

 

SEA TO SHINING SEE

Crocodile tears

for those you hate

its three cheers

for progress

but more locks

on more gates

the hour is late

too tired

from running

around

and around

and around

lost the race

we’re drowning

in those tears

it was you

instilling fear

through the years

today you wave

a rainbow flag

but again

tomorrow

you’ll be yelling

fag

after using tragedy

to kill more

ragheads

we can see

through your lies

we can see

through your hate

yes, the hour

is late

but we won’t

give up

remember the date

and smash

the cup

theres no need

for a chalice

tear down

the gate

and burn down

the palace

then we’ll all

chace rabbits

and hangout

with Alice

and through

our cheshire grin

you will know

that loves not a sin

and sin is man made

and used to control

heaven on earth

should be

the only goal

and I’m not talking

streets that are

paved with gold

I’m talking

about peace

for the young

and the old

and peace

of mind

and pleanty

of bread

and no profits

leading to

collateral dead

no guns

no bombs

no tanks

and no drones

and no children

in sweatshops

making cell phones

no politicians paid

to legislate hate

no, this does not

have to be

our fate

hate

begets hate

but love

begets love

lets start

the next chapter

let’s all rise above

 

Peace and war are very far
Yet they entwine at par
At one pace there can’t be both
Leave war adopt peace take oath
To make the world serene and humanity roar.

 

There is peace in trees

Under a tree,
Pine needles
wafting
scented
air.

Soft branches,
touching both
sky and you.

Connecting
you to
tree to
Thee.

 

Where will it all end,
when will the insanity stop.
So many lives lost again –
innocent children now angels in heaven.
If compassion has left this world –
then it best stop spinning,
for love and laughter are the two things –
that in this world we cannot do without.
Prayers to God above,
bring back to this world love.
Help mend the broken hearts
and let rainbows fill the skies again

 

“Soul Medley”
I sang a song for you today the exact words I can’t recall
The tune was sad and off kilter, and the emotion was chilling and raw
As I went to hit the high note I choked back the tears that would fall
So I decided to wish it with a whisper…
Happy birthday, my brother, my all

As I looked into your eyes so blue, you said that “it’s okay”..
“And I’ll see you soon, sooner than you know” and you said, “remember the way”…
You pointed to the sky and flew up high, until sadly, you were out of sight

But your words stay with me, through the dawn, through the dusk
Through the day, through the darkness, through the night

So I’ll sing, and sing, and sing your song, with all my strength and might
High and strong and soft and long
As the darkness gives way to the light.

In memory of Joey Blanton-Harris, love your sister, Carol Borrelli

 

This is something I wrote called ‘Brotherhood of Man’
Why is there so much hate in the world
When all we want is peace?
So many innocent lives taken
We need to make it cease
There are never any winners
When so much blood is shed
Just sorrow and devastation
As each side mourns their dead
So many children dying
Before they have had chance to live
Bitterness, rage, and anger
No-one can forgive
I wish we could stop all this
And agree some sort of plan
To share this world we live in
and create a brotherhood of man.

 

Beneath muddied army uniforms

Masked faces
Split, poisoned blood

Being made to choose between
heaven and hell

Collateral damage took on a meaning

And bone-thin children, glassy-eyed
Shot through with the pain of generations
Peer at us from flickering screens

Somewhere along the way
we inevitably forgot to ask ourselves,
Are we not all made of the same

Bones,

Flesh,

With blood running through us?

 

Can I define peace for you?
Peace is the state
Where everyone has compassion- no hate
Where every word said is honest and true
Where our next door neighbors is not sharing the same thought then you
But you will accept him and he will accept you too
.
Oh “Imagen” how John Lennon said
How it would be to live in peace
We wouldn’t even need police!!
But please remember imagination just happens in your head
So let us not sing “Imagen” like John Lennon
Nor saying “I have a dream” like Martin Luther King
.
No! Let us act like them
Let us change the world
Let us live in peace and happiness-let`s overcome
Let`s love each other regardless all our sins
That will give us peace
Here and all over the seven seas
.
Never think to small of yourself
Never think I can`t
Because I can say you YOU CAN!!
It`s just how much you WANT to help
So let`s stand up from our computers now
And change it together- we have the know-how
.
We have the gift to love and hug
We have ears to listen and mouth to encourage
We have legs to walk and ways to flourish
Believe me Love is the most powerful drug!!
.
Can we be role models for young and old?
Break the wave of violence just by poems told?
Can we love instead of hate?
Can we act instead of wave?
I don`t know but one`s for sure..
If we not try we`ll never know!

 

HALT FOR LOVE

There’s too much

Hate in the world,

Too much violence,

Sorrow and pain…

It has to stop!

But God’s not gonna stop it.

With respect and love for us His children

Free will He gave…

TO CHOOSE-

The choice in our hands,

To stop the madness.

Will we put

The brakes

On our own unkind,

Reckless and

Hurtful acts?

Or keep racing

Through crossroads

And intersections,

Red lights in our eyes,

Half blind?

Please stop

To “Reconsider Love,”

And I, still praying,

Without cessation

For a miracle.

 

Days like That!

There are days like that
where suddenly in our lives all seems new
where everything is pink color
… Pinker!

There are smiles like that
which finally sounding the renewal
and flying away like the bird
… A bird!

All hearts are like that!
when Earth that sometimes forgets to be blue
they look to other horizons
… New suns!

There are days like that!
There are hearts like that!
Outside,
Our blue sky became
a whole pink garden
… Heaven!

 

“….to the Elysian plain…where life is easiest for men”

When the storm of life
flails too violently
against your cellar door,
and you cannot think
of a way to survive

When the desolate fields
of dying hope
and endless struggle
bring you to your
scarred and bruised knees

And when the wrath
of vile men
fills fields with the
blood, bone and bodies
of sacred human life

Know this.

They cannot put to final rest
the beauty of human spirit
There is no fixed place
on earth or above
for souls at peace to reside
It is everywhere

in the plaintive cry of the mud dove
and the soaring caw of the eagle

it is in each beating heart
where truth and love lie

It cannot be touched
It cannot be defeated

It need only be felt

however fleeting.

#poetsforpeace

 

I am no child, I can do without a lullaby

no greed in my eyes, hold your gold away from me

I have learnt to face life, do not present me with luxury

big cars, plush house, servants around, I have no fancy

my tears are enough for me, I can do without the rain

don’t direct me to those pills, I have the will to bear the pain

after a day of tiresome work, I can sleep sound on the floor

no soft mattress is asked, my comfort is in my dreams

I am not aware of cuisines, neither do I wish for the same

sweet words from my beloved, make my dinner delicious

smiles around are enough for me

to give me the insight to the heaven

I am a soul powerful, contentment is my weapon

yet, for one thing I struggle every moment

I struggle for PEACE, I struggle for HARMONY

how painful to see people shooting each other

killing humanity

will this STRUGGLE ever end

today I wonder, as I sit under the stars

looking up to the sky

searching for the answers

I may not find

soon enough

 

Legacies

He told her

I’m from broken halves

people who weren’t present in their lives

world too damn ugly to keep chaining themselves to the curve

they let go and jumped

and I didn’t exist until I chewed my way through

life never came easy, it wasn’t given without effort, nothing

nothing

was

so you with your privilege

you don’t know what it’s like to have to work

for every step you take or

wake up unsure how you’re going to make it

through one day

you know what it’s

like to be taken care of

the only thing taking care of me is standing

in front of you

I grew up before I even reached

childhood

your anger helps me to be

more elusive

what you see is a white face

full of ease and comfortable ways

you don’t know me

you don’t know where I came from

how i got here

what it took

you don’t know that sometimes it looks one way

and it’s another

you call me privileged because I’m privilaged not to be

attacked in the street for being black

but I was attacked nonetheless

and I didn’t shrink from color

or think

everyone who had a hue was evil

my own skin may burn under the sun

but I’ve as much black as you

that’s what you can’t see

because you’re too busy

judging people on their color

repeating what’s been done to you

we’re legacies

passing down our bad habits

generation to generation

and our rage and impotency

we don’t always know

what we do and if we did

I don’t think we would continue

but fearful of everything

anger becomes our rhetoric

we curse each other instead of

looking closer

so look closer now

you know me

as you know yourself

I’m not just a white face

you’re not just a black face

we’re people of this earth

sharing an umbilical chord

the moment we start making the mistakes

of those who oppress us

we lose our dignity

we lose our truth

and evil will

inherit our discord

They held each other

it felt

right

he opened the door for her

she stepped outside

the sun was

bright

the gunman could not see

the color he was

supposed to be shooting at

the bullet

too fast

too urgent

cut first through her

then through

him

they fell at the

same time

they bled the same

color

in dying we are reminded

of unity

sore lost on

the living

 

The Gift of Peace

Everyone believes in peace
especially those who make war
who thrive on conflict as addicts
think they thrive on their drugs
that peace being an illusion

Our peace through strength
brings cease`fires at their best
leaving residues of bitter anger
resentments down in the soul
and the profiling of the other

Give me peace that is a verb
for peace is a thing I must do
other`wise it is no thing at all
A bumper`sticker on my car
along`side Save the Whales

Do not say Pray for Peace!
for God will not give what is
within the power of my hands
to do by accepting the other
as one who is my neighbor

“[You] have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” ~ Jeremiah 6:14

 

We have accrued
a legion of wars over
centuries that pass like wandering
soldiers in our dreams
shattered by bombs and the broken
promises of liars and tyrants,
squeezing till we scream and succumb –
hoping we toe the line,
discard our beliefs, cease disrobing
moral injustices, cease clamouring
for peace and end our search for solutions.
Violence, hate, fear and terrorism is written
in unjust profit margins and margins
of error, meted out by greed, and as human traffic
we have become a bank balance of death
in their greedy pockets.
Nothing changes.
All this time we
remain nothing but
their small
change.

Only for a while,
for a moment, I thought
that time was going to change it –
when hate might become a memory –
in a time of change,
forever?

We have scarce time,
myriad memories
and goals like pythons wind
around our dreams –
choking, crushing, till they seep
and we weep like spoilt children
when the charmer tames.
Changes are made but are
brushed aside with a sweep of an engine
flying aloft – metallic, death throes.
No change there, just death –
always at rest in someone’s
memory – all of the time, and which
will last
not only for a short time
but forever.
If we don’t change
in the times
in which we live,
these times
will never
change.

 

an accidental peace
for the first time
since
the beginning
of time
there was
no war
men did not talk
of killing others
nor were there
any war machines
rolling over the graves
of those who had died
there was no hunger
nor
was there any pain
no religious refrains
claiming my god
is better than your god
there was peace
upon the earth
the day after
ker’s meteor took
all life away

tear it down
leave no stone standing
salt the earth
so no seeds of hope
can ever grow
in the hearts of children
let the children feel
misery’s cat-o’-nine-tails
upon their backs
have the flesh of their dreams
torn from within their bodies
deprive them of laughter
pour poison into the well of faith
that nourishes their souls
feed them upon fear
and degradation
until
our enemy
on bended knees
cries out for peace
peace of mind
for those they love
their children

 

The heart yearns for peace

How much can I give this world?

My infinite love

 

A war-torn world claiming peace !

On behalf of peace in a world seemingly u-at-ease.
It seems inevitable a poet would will to have a say.
Yes, peace is being upturned while hostility grows.
Hostility showing root(s) in forced ideology.

Trickling down, effecting
politician, child, radicalized lives.
Where prisoner(s) are the common man!
Living in what was their home-land.

As war and terror remains in the middle east.
And there’s no shortage of displaced refugee.
Tumultuous heart’s grow desperate – grieve.

Family life – our earnings are in collapse.
Extreme violence in homes, community, unprecedented.
This indicating an apocalypse is on the way?

While politicians promise to fix all this.
Whilst delving out money for personal or foreign needs.
No, this isn’t enough; it’s not just this.

Disease – natural disasters are rising to an
unheard of degree.
Causing all to feel weak in the knees…

Peace, where’s peace?
It’s gone it seems.

 

Song of Freedom

the caged bird sings
for freedom

but
when it is free
o pilgrim
both the bird and the song
will be gone

their echo
a harmony
on the borderland

between remembrance
and being

 

Yes, Sir!

Join the army? You must be barmy!

Is my head as hollow as a shell from your gun, a calami?

Why would I voluntarily, put myself in a place where bullets can harm me?

.

Yet thousands sign, barely ledgible, calmly, for camouflage and guns

But I see them for what they are; misled daughters and sons.

Once the slaughter has begun, maybe then, they’ll see their mistake,

With vermillion Afghani civillians killed in their wake.

And some will die as mums’ll cry, as the blood spills from their fate

No politician would want to take part, let alone send their kin

Yet they’ll gladly expend naive people, and send them in.

.

When the blood’s shed and the landscape is blood red

There’ll always be more to replace it & there’s never enough dead

I feel no sorrow for the shot soldier whose body turns ever colder

Fighting for democracy under the imperial flag,

A legacy of ‘Killed in Action’ in a government folder.

There are no heroes of invasions, please stop giving out medals

For every soldier killed, a thousand civillians are murdered in the wars,

in which the U.S and Britain meddles.

.

False patriots fighting for a flag which blows in the winds of lands that we grab

Meanwhile there’s thousands of children who’ll never have a dad

Now that’s both sad and bad; troops aren’t you glad?

You gave them a life they never had

One without parents or a family.

.

But there’s nothing more heroic than a dead soldier is there?

 

Heal the Wounds

A tug of war is going on now.
So many people fighting to live.

The faithful in the streets
Marching for peace, singing
‘How We Got Over’ and
‘We Shall Overcome.”

I’m still trying to understand
How any peaceful gathering
can turn into a disaster? We
the People, standing our ground,
next to the thin blue line.

Fighting for Justice,
Hoping to be heard.
Fighting for Truth,
Shouting to be heard.

Why does it have to be this way?

We are still waiting for the day,
When ‘A Change is Gonna Come.’

Time for a recess. Lay down
Your arms brothers and sisters.
Become a Peacemaker. “Peace
is a choice,” John Denver said,
We are all in this together.

Drop your weapons. Have Courage and
Resilience. Cease and Desist from
All this unnecessary violence.

Why should any innocent blood be shed?

Lady Liberty invites us all to share In
her Freedom and Independence. Let
the bell ring for Freedom today. Sing
the chords of our common humanity.

Stop the bullets from flying now, and
Fly the flag at half-mast in memory of
Our loved ones and the lost and the
Injured, for All the innocent ones.

Join our hands together for peace.
Heal the wounds and Mend the scars.

Have Courage in the face
of this senseless bloodshed.
End the profiling! End the Violence!
Stand Strong and Do No Harm!

See our faces in the crowd.
We are the People!

 

Silence and Freedom

The quotes prefacing my poems below are taken from a 1977 paper delivered by Audre Lorde titled, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”.

“What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?”

– the bureaucracy of joy

Operationally exigent, the
Skill of my day-to-day is
Contingent, held by the
Noosed nylon that will swing

You to the other side; the door
Is procedure, sentiment; cross that
Tee and knot that eye with thatched
Thistle carving up the parchment

Into friendly spaces, cells and columns,
Political economy of verbs & nouns,
Forms content with fill, ink’s dissent
With fill of space, the dotted eye.

“We can learn to work and speak when we are afraid in the same way we have learned to work and speak when we are tired. For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.”

– rules of communion

Commit to the arbitrary whim
That seeks plenitude but knows

Not how, and then organize those
Whims, the exigencies of action.

Figure out the ancestry of the
Why of what you have to do, and

Write it down: to commit is to
Want to breathe, sink and greet.

“The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.”

– freedom is inherently dangerous

freedom is inherently dangerous; it can
unfetter the slovenly pink and discolor
the unfelt solder, the axed appropriate
mandate, the breaking of swords, triads

of affiliation, tinpots of manged hate;
freedom is thus danger; and why not? it
reeks of past, it seeks the past, flits
of memory crawl out of nowhere nothings

 

To End All Wars

In every town and village I know
Stand names in stone
To not forget
The fallen
In the Great War

From one hundred bloody years ago
March men to fight
And dig graves with
Hands shaken
By the Great War

They volunteered and were made to go
Beyond this life
To strange meetings
With brothers
Of the Great War

But this is all and all I know
It takes great men
And great women
Not great wars
To find true peace.

 

Fluttering white doves,
over fields of peace lily,
unforgettable.

Cannibalistic,
war hawks and vultures loomed out,
peaceful world eclipsed.

Oceans and rivers,
from the mountains and forests,
chimes prayers for peace.

 

~Zlata’s daughter~

I met zlatica when I was young
on a visit to the old country
we held hands at the village dance
and walked evenings on the corzo

when I left
she gave me golden dice on a chain
and said osjećaj me – remember me

~~~~~

zlata is a mother now
a grandmother a survivor of war
between croats and serbs

I don’t understand what the hell
they thought they were doing
to places where we went to talk and dream
and hold hands as we walked
across the corzo cobbles

~~~~~

zlata named her daughter mariana
srce moj (my heart)
grew up an imitation americanka
but in a landscape painted small
with dinars instead of dollars
she met dejan on the corzo before a dance

mariana couldn’t help herself fell for a serb
and dejan chose wrong blood mariana a croat
there was hatred in the village for kids like that
betrayers of kin
consorts of the enemy
damn fool pacifists
he should have shaved her hair put her out on the street
she should have cut his throat in the middle of the night

~~~~~

I met zlata’s daughter her dejan and their child
at a migrant place in dandenong

she told me it was better here
australians haven’t learned to wear
the look that gets etched into faces
from living with war

she said she was a little lonely
no-one from home comes to visit
but they leave messages on the outside wall:

no place here for a croatian-serb
no place here for a serbian-croat
no place here for people like you
go away go away become invisible

she said they would leave in the morning
to go to a far away town
where no-one knows where they come from
who they are what they are
leave the war behind them
and find a place where their child will grow
without an accent
without a heritage
without knowing hate

~~~~~

when I last saw her
zlata’s daughter was wearing golden dice on a necklace
struggling with a new language full of strange words
and keeping up a job through difficult early times

I picture her now in my minds eye
walking with dejan and their daughter
on a dusty australian corzo
in a small town she calls moje oslobođenje

my escape to freedom

 

A WORLD AT PEACE

Had the world always been so
Crimson,
Blood-soaked,
Drowning in the entity
That gave it life?

Withering silently,
Strangled slowly,
From the horrors
Of deaths too soon.
Not yet, please not yet,
It was not her time, not his,
Not for the child who did not know
Hatred,
But oh hatred
Kills
Through the bodies that bear it,
Fermenting slowly
Until it explodes,
Taking away lives
Too soon.

And we are left to wonder
Why?

It is the ones left–
Stranded on mortal land
That suffer the longest.
Nights of crumpled tissue, stinging eyes,
Salty warm rivers that
Carve ridges along their face,
Expressionless, walking zombies,
Sorrow etched in pained hearts–
It will not go away,
Not until I leave this Earth, they say
But perhaps
A piece of them died too that day.

These horrors around us
Are not isolated
To the victims.
They do not just affect the dead,
Or the family of dead,
Or the country of the dead.

Each shooting, battle, war
Is a testament of humanity.
A life lost that we could have
Known,
Someone who could have
Bettered this world,
In ways that will never be
Shown.

Peace is not a dream,
It is not an option,
Not a treaty,
Not a solution
Printed, sealed, passed
On sheets of paper
Among men in suits, shining armor.

Peace exists, regardless
Of whether we listen to it
Or not.
It invades our souls,
Makes us question death,
Fear blood,
Write,
Read,
Feel,
Until finally
We can say
Enough. This is all.
This is not war for a cause. This is massacre.

Before then,
Peace will campaign, Peace will protest,
Peace will linger in speeches of presidents,
In the words of poets
In the eyes of every man, woman, child
Who knows what it means
To be alive.

Peace is here, in all of us,
And always will be.

We just have to find it again.

 

An Unassuming Peace

Peace, even the word should lull,
Is it too much to ask for this realm to be gentle,
Where bullies with weapons, the ignorant few,
Would not make life a living hell for those who would love, share, respect.
Peace, in white, satin flags that flap from a silent hill
Displaying just kindness, not cruelty; that’s the symbol for me.
We’d have no need to point, to pout, to prevaricate,
Just know all were encompassed
Regardless of wealth or stature, ideology or mindset.
Is that too much to ask for?
Is it?
Peace, such a short, unassuming word:
You’d think we’d embrace it.
You’d think.

 

Good runs slow

sometimes late

like honey tilted

from bees to bottle

the keeper

works the field, stung

the passerby

walks the field, stung

taste, yes taste

yet the heart will never savor

from spoon alone

 

BROKEN WORLD (II OUT OF VI)
our hearts are breaking
–
our world’s being torn apart
–
with our bare hands

The Helmet

It lay there
One edge imbedded
At crooked cant
In much disturbed sand
Half a yard from the road
Half a world from its home
Who knows for how long
Deceptively mottled
Rendered indistinct
From its grim dun surround
Of gritty ground and
Shapeless mounds
Apt detritus
One more lifeless feature
Of a barren baked landscape
That’s never known peace
This artifact of war
Not really belonging
Yet not out of place

Whose was the head
It last endowed armor
The head whose sweat swelled
And stained its sewn webbing
What judgments of duty
Enjoined its young wearer
Were they frenzied and frightened
Or steadfast and stoic
With chinstrap pulled taut
And goggles sharp set
For the myriad threats
Of jihad in the desert
What convictions conjoined
Love of life, fear of death
In this overly hot
Kevlar carapace
Right up to the moments
Before being pitched
From victory’s path

Where is the soldier
Who left it behind
Careless or killed
Or just maybe both
That uncertain status
A mirror, an echo
Presaging how history
May gauge the outcome
Will Augustine’s test
Validate bellum iustum
Will triumph be touted
As nobly complete
Or will failure by way of
Abortion of mission
Haunt and harrow the marrow
In the bones of the brave
This drab mundane piece
Of muted regalia
Now lost of purpose, just waits

I bent to retrieve it
Thought better, then stopped
And so let it be
This artifact of war
Not really belonging
Yet not out of place
It’s no souvenir

 

World has changed a lot.
Always seems to have a violent plot.
The notion of humanity is no more.
Day by day violence is increasing more.
People wonder what is their deed.
Inside and outside they did bleed.
Bloods are flowing like water.
Always I see is humans getting shattered.
Tears spread across the globe.
I am thinking is their any scope.
World is getting terrorized.
Is violence really required?

No human wants to be in vain.
But everyone is residing in pain.
Both mentally and physically.
All are losing hope slowly.
Darkness spread all around the world.
They are disturbing the peaceful world.
Bombings and murders are common.
I wonder whether things will be normal.
We have to come together for peace.
Rather than sending people to rest in peace.
The question still arise.
Is violence really required?

Come all.
We will join hands.
In order to curb violence.
Let’s make the inner voice louder and shouter.
The only wish we all have is peace.
We want peace.
Let’s make a better world.
With no violence.
Where all of us are in path of humanity.
Igniting the flame of serenity.
Let’s make a world.
Where everyone should be down to gravity.
Igniting the flame of serenity.
Let’s make a better world for our future generations.
Where all should have a better collaboration.
Let’s come and join hands.
For the sake and glory of humanity.
By igniting the flame of serenity.
Igniting the flame of serenity.

 

hate festers in fear

love can soothe our restless minds

when we meet in peace

 

The View Within

Cover my eyes
I hear
The flutter of wings
Carry a song

Cover my ears
I see
A bird fly free from
The stones of this land

Cover my mouth
I feel
Ink stain my open hands
Blind, deaf, dumb

Still there is love

 

Terrorism
Occupation
Gun violence
Intolerance
Brutality by authorities
We have not learned
Anything from history.
Our Kristallnacht against humanity
Begins with the holocaust of
Our own hearts

 

It seems all thoughts of peace are dead
As war disfigures joy and light…
Let’s hope and fight for life instead.

There’s murky chaos in my head
As bravery gives into fright —
It seems all thoughts of peace are dead.

Through cries of pain and tears we shed,
Though murder mars the world like blight,
Let’s hope and fight for life instead

The earth and sky are painted red,
There’s no discerning wrong or right.
It seems all thoughts of peace are dead.

With heavy thoughts, we go to bed
While angels whisper from their height:
Let’s hope and fight for life instead

Although the world is full of dread,
And ofttimes, when the bombs take flight,
It seems all thoughts of peace are dead —
Let’s hope and fight for life instead.

 

United Nations

The united nations congregate

at the air-side playground,

by the boarding gates.

Screams and cries echo

through the multinational crowd.

The loud wooden bus is over booked,

standing room only

on a journey to everywhere.

Meanwhile the slide has an orderly que

with just a few love affairs starting

as pairs peel away holding hands

new best friends.

The seesaw is stuck in heavy tide

with disputes over ride times

flaring and ending in smiles and laughter

and hugs after.

Only the adults by the rail intervene

or are overly keen and cause fuss

in the press to again board the wooden bus

Teaching our children racism

and nationalism in the schism of worry

instead of learning from the yearning

of kids three to eight not to hate

or discriminate

but play in peace by the boarding gate.

 

Peace Piece
Two men in a quiet place
Arm in arm, face to face,
Caught in a tight embrace.
Their touching slowing its pace.
Peace pervades their space.
Two diplomats in a quiet space,
Arranged meeting face-to-face.
Caught between a rock and a hard place.
Hostilities slowing their pace,
Peace negotiations take place.
Two nations in a quiet place,
Friendly nations on their face,
United by trade’s embrace.
Negotiations happen at their own pace,
Peace is present in this space.

 

PEACE
~ THE HUMAN DREAM ~

We are such stuff of stars and light
atomic dust-memory,
exploded wonder in the ‘Big Bang’.
Evolutionary beings
with million-year histories;
mind and matter,
flesh and sinew,
blood and bone.

We are divided
by race and religion,
class and caste,
frontiers and borders,
lines in sand
and water.
Squabbling and scrabbling
for the last resources
and a quick buck.

We share but one blue-sea earth
spinning on its fragile axis
circling our life-Sun.
We share but one humanity

Speak not the word PEACE in a whisper;
write it no more in blood and tears;
let it ride on the winds,
let it sail on the seas,
let it roam free in the Universe
let it nestle safe in every human dream.

 

In Beirut, the sound of an explosion
deafened a young boy to his mothers laugh
and his fathers voice. The blasts left
a community stripped off any sense of security.

Not a day had passed until,
in Baghdad, a funeral branched itself out
into over twenty more funerals, and mourners
became the ones to be mourned.

Hours later, in Paris, gunshots spread
the news of the terror that is
the world today and wounded bodies
spilt in the city like yolk from an egg.

Less than twenty four hours
left the earth shaking with fear.
Three cities grew silent,
while the world shed a tear.

Cities that bred love have hate
splattered across their streets,
as innocent souls fell victim
to the brutal games of greed.

What did those poor souls do
for you to snatch away their heartbeat?
What did their families do
to deserve such misery?

It is a pity, what the world
has grown into, it’s a shame
how little we can do to help,
except hold one last thread of hope.

So, here’s our hopes for Beirut.
Here’s our good wishes to Baghdad.
Here’s our prayers for Paris.
Here’s our longing for peace.

 

I believe!

The day will come
When we are one
The day when hands
Are clasped war ends

It is the day when people see
That tolerance means liberty
That difference is what we need
To add all shades, then we’ll proceed

There may be darkness all around
But inside you, the light is found
Please shine it brightly and we will
Chase away dark spots of hell

Shine your light in all you do
Each day, whatever you go through
Become the light for someone else
That they can see how good love feels

Then more will follow, I believe
That this task is to achieve
Until not everyone joins in
The ones who do, need to hang in

I do believe the day will come
When hatred is forever gone
Now take my hand and start today
To add your soul’s peace bringing ray

In Love and Light

 

My Dream

I dream of a day
When we’ll all be friends
I dream, as I look at the stars
That the world will see
That being valued and free
Is better than destruction and war
***
I dream of a day
When my friends are yours
Although from quite different lands
That you understand
All colors and beliefs
Can live in peace. Can hold hands
***
I dream of a day
Hopefully not far away
When compassion wins in the end
We’re all human after all
We all stumble and fall
Let’s help each other up and be friends
***
I dream of a day
When the killing has stopped
And peace prevails at last
Borders are open
Old vendettas forgotten
Past beliefs… will stay in the past
***
I dream of a day…
But it is only a dream
So many people will say
Perhaps I am delusional
Perhaps just a dreamer
But to survive, we must find a way
***
To break down barriers
To live together in peace
That will be a challenge for some
But why must we label
Our different neighbors?
Why can’t we become as one?
***
We all want respect
We all want freedom
Let’s open our eyes and see
That we all want the same
It’s really not complicated
It’s peace, for you and for me
***
I dream of a day
When world peace is achieved
When the pen is the only weapon
There will be universal love
And to the power above I’ll say
“Thank you. Our Earth has become Heaven.”

 

The wonder of it all
Upon arrival we walk to our favorite spot
As we have done so many times before
The sun with all its glory soon fades away
In its place black clouds come creeping in.
As if on a mission they’ve blown in overhead quietly and unnoticed
Instantly the sky is covered in night
In the distance shadows and sprinkles of twinkling lights
Stars, above all around then one by itself strong and bright
Some in formation as if at attention
Others – hundreds, the likeness of many loose diamonds
Delicately shimmering so very distant – lifetimes away
Before me is water as far as the eye can see
An ocean so vast so big so proud with its mighty waves
The water seems to go on forever
until into the bottom of the sky it respectfully tucks in its skirts
Choppy waves clap and flap then away they rush again
It is a windy night
The smell of salt water in the air
Out goes the shrimp clinging tightly to the hook
Destined for the perfect catch
Hello Mr. Sand trout
A golden beauty up late!
The seagull flutters by laughing dipping but not finding
He wont give up though
He knows all too well that soon he’ll get his.
Upon a happenstance I look up
What is it moving so quickly barely catching my eye
Oh wow a shooting star!
Look, darling! A shooting star!
O wait- its gone
how quickly it vanished almost as a vapor.
Then I ponder on all this beauty.
And think of the whole world of beautiful places I’ve yet to see
Alas many lifetimes could not suffice!
Looking around busied bodies about their business
Can it be true no one stops to take in the beauty
Then I wonder if per chance a person might say
That all these elements just happened per chance
Burning embers landing somewhere through flight?
In no way could one thus say!
Wait!!! Look up, look around for the very things of this earth
They testify of a Creator.
Alas, alas to no avail
No one cares to seek, to find, to know
So much beauty in life and still the word resounds in my head
The fool has said in his heart there is no God.
Awake to life, get to know the Creator, enjoy His creation
and the wonder of it all.

 

Rockabye baby
When the wind blows
It brings messages of hate
Don’t listen my baby; don’t listen

Rockabye baby
When the wind blows
it touches with dark shadows
Don’t touch my baby; don’t touch

Rockabye baby
When the wind blows
It brings the taste of innocent blood spilled
Don’t taste my baby; don’t taste

Rockabye baby
When the wind blows
It brings the sight of
Flags waving at half mast

Acknowledge, but don’t linger your gaze my baby; don’t linger.
Please don’t hold on to any of these messages

Because the real world isn’t really all this negativity and darkness.
The real world, my baby, is so much more
Than the feedback from the news or the people enamored with it.

When the bough breaks
It is you my baby who will make
The difference
It is you who can change it.

Bring your sweetness
Bring your joy
Bring your positivity
And radiate your messages

Of love and hope
Out into the world.
Be you my baby
Be you

 

You Calmed The Storm

I was a single flower – standing alone – alone and broken, withered and dying. I needed peace, I needed love, I needed light and warmth to help me stay alive. I searched the sky, I searched the earth, but everywhere I looked there was no one to give me peace. I had to fight to stay alive. I cried and cried and found no peace. I hated me and hated you and everyone who broke my heart. I couldn’t find a thing to love. I was alone. I called the gods, but they didn’t listen, they didn’t exist. Still no one heard my sad, sad cries. I was alone, I felt despised. I was abandoned, I paid the price. . .

My heart was bleeding. I longed so much for someone’s love. The hate I felt was killing me. It dragged me down like heavy rain. The pain I felt, I could not explain. It made me feel like I was trapped and drowning in the darkness I called my life. The rage inside was my only friend. I couldn’t find the peace that I had been longing for. I couldn‘t smile, I couldn‘t trust nor love the one that mattered most. It was the person inside of me – my one true friend. . .

But then one day the sun came out – it warmed my heart and lifted me up. I pushed the darkness into the pit that had been my life for far too long. I found the Son who came to tell me that He loved me. He took the clouds and all the darkness that followed me. He made me see that I had found my one true love and inner peace. . .

I let the hate drop like stones into the sea of broken dreams. You calmed the storm in me. I found a dream that filled my life with greater things that I could not see-while I was curled up in this dreary, dark and lonely place filled with the stench of bitter hate. I saw the Son, he came to me and took my hand – lifted me up into the sky and showed me things that brought me joy and true, precious peace. . .

Now I smile, I sing and dance. I feel alive and spread my wings. I am a flower found in the Spring with colors I’ve only seen in dreams. I am not alone, I am now free, and filled with His perfect love and precious peace. He helped me conquer the things that made me feel like a dying flower, so all alone. I found the Son and He found me. And now I smile and dance and dream. . .

 

 

 

Enough is Enough

It is enough…

when breath is taken away.

And a mother’s child

lies in a grave.

(abortion)

——

It is enough…

when, in, what we strive for.

Whilst permit us to shun

with a closed door.

(exclusiveness)

——

It is enough…

when division is our cause.

And freedom is

for those who adhere

to our rules.

(radicalization)

——

It is enough…

when family ties shred.

And a child

is left naked – dead.

(brokenness)

——

It is enough…

when bond’s that tie

echo deception,

circulating lies…

by hollow eyes.

(divorce)

——

It is enough…

when government

does succeed.

To impede, forfeit

our basic needs.

——

…for love and security.

 

dreaming for peace

in the dream
a dark cloud follows overhead
like a skeptical stray cat
neither threatening nor kind
unbiased and nearly lifeless

far beyond
stars form stellar pyramids
with eye-shaped apertures
blinking a visual morse code
only warlords understand

in the dream
martin luther king preaches
to a desperate generation
promising harmony and hope
where there is only despair

far beyond
star factories push the limits
within a universe pulling back
brushing aside dark clouds
and bringing change on earth

 

On A Day Like Today (written on July 15, 2016 after the Bastille Day attacks in Nice, France)

Dreaming of Nice, praying
for peace. On a day
like today
so little
else to say.

Liberte’ Egalite’ Fraternite’

Republique’ Francaise

France we stand with you

 

Existential Fratricide

Christian vs Muslim vs Hindu.

Versus Jew. Versus Buddhist.

Sikh. Yazidi. Zoroastrian. Atheist.

Brahmin vs Backward. Sunni vs Shia.

Native vs Immigrant. Local vs Settler.

Nation vs Country. Tribe vs Tribe. Brother vs Brother.

Faith vs Belief. Ideology vs Ideology.

Alliance vs Bloc. Team vs Faction.

Straight vs Gay. Black vs White.

Rich vs Poor. Developed vs Third World.

North vs South. East vs West.

Individual vs Society. He vs She. You vs Me.

Seven billion at last count. Each, “The Chosen One”.

And yet, not one gets it?

 

Enough

I want to write a love poem . . . sweet and easy.
I want to find a way to say the golden things
The things with wings.
I want to mimic Gibran . . . and Rumi too
I want to write a love poem . . . I do I really do.

I sit at the break of day
When the hush of morn surrounds.
I think of all those loving things
where peace and love abounds.
A thought so strong it births a tear
Takes me back to a better year . . .

BUT ALL I HEAR . . .

Across the hilltops flying high
Are cries from earth
And water
And sky.

ENOUGH! ENOUGH! . . . we say
IF you wish to live another day!
ENOUGH! ENOUGH!! ENOUGH!!!

 

you hurt love hurts not
do not fear love it fears not
make your peace with love

 

YES, THERE WILL BE PEACE

We hear the many heartbeats of fear
As blood runs down well-worn streets
Mixed with the tears of loved ones
As children run from the blast of guns,
And we wonder, when will there be
Peace on this earth of common birth
And goodwill among all in that day
We can stand straight and tall withal
In humble pride as we stride arm
In arm, side by side as one great tide?
Surely that day will dawn when light
Pierces the night and the stark dark,
And we find our might in all that
Is good and right, lovely and bright,
When we no longer pay more heed
To the powerful greed that profits
From proliferation of war, violence,
Repression, oppression, desecration
That all leads to utter desolation…
Yes, there will be peace on earth
When we learn to honor the worth
Of each one — brother and sister,
Mother and father — everywhere;
And peace will reign, peace will reign

 

When I Lift My Eyes to the Sky

When I lift my eyes to the sky the magnificence of colors in creation soothe my troubled soul. Swimming in turmoil through turbulent waters navigating the human condition wiping away the dilemma of days lost in the rapid passing of time. Hours devoured pursuing a flat line of self-serving deeds…combative aggressive types intensify the hype vicious in their pursuit of power. Greed the cataclysmic seed to success reigns…while fortissimo sound of unified voices harmonizes hope.

When I lift my eyes to the sky the magnificence of colors in creation soothe my troubled soul. News of the day rocks reason in a season taunted by hostility. Demonic voices destroy tenuous threads of sanity. The rata tat tat of assault rifles signify the right to bear arms. Babies crying with fear wanting mother love…papa love…family love…wail and weep drowning in a sea of retribution…while soft gurgling music tones sing “Joy cometh in the morning!”

When I lift my eyes to the sky the magnificence of colors in creation soothe my troubled soul. War ravages the earth. Cultures clash…civil war erupts…ideologies abruptly declare the rights to eradicate with hate ideals of difference. Poison toxins contaminate breath…bombs explode…bullets mock life laughing at resistance mowed down in the name of dogma…while a peace encompasses the universe tolling a bell of love that cuts through strife heralding the fragility of life.

When I lift my eyes to the sky the magnificence of colors in creation soothe my troubled soul.

 

:: it hasleft me tired ::

adrift, will the sky at last explode, or will this hate

continue pointlessly, for thousand thousands years.

numbers that cannot describe each particle of pain.

each bloody bomb that kills yet again.

it may have left us tired, we are alive to witness.

yet again.

 

Peace
Whispered shoe on soft moss through the forest in your mind,
quiet meditation,
crashing kitchen chaos of flying spoons
plates waiting to be filled,
streets with a thousand chants
“No Justice, No Peace,”
face down stretched thin over blanket covered patients on a combat hospital floor
waiting for mortar strike,
Scarlet tissue paper poppies,
silhouette of cranes at sunset,
warm hand cups your cheek transfer of love,
Peace is what you make it.

 

After global peace

‘After global peace, what next, will follow? ‘
Course there’ll be no apathy or gluttony,
‘Course not, ‘ you won’t beg, steal or borrow.
There’ll be no infighting even for survival
Love will follow love and topple all evil.

Imprisoned poets, will sing of joy and life
And return home to unknown foreign lands
There’ll be no more murder on the 10 o’clock news.
Soon soldiers will down, their barbaric tools
Stop listening to governmental patriarchal fools.

‘And write about how even they too were used.’
Course there’ll be no hunger or indifference
We shall all be—bothers & sisters
There’ll be no envy or lust, no avarice
Growing rice; living in harmony, this could be, nice.

‘After global peace, what next will follow? ‘
Well, we shall all live like Easter Islanders
With big heads, and practice slash-and-burn.
‘Pretty shortly, won’t we run out of resources? ‘
Yes, but like so many, before us, we‘ll set sail for the sun.

Put all our faiths on a straw-raft as did our forefathers.
Kon-Tiki man, and look for the Promised Land.
‘I beg your pardon, but hasn’t that ocean, been mapped.’
You Sir! You have no faith. Look at our giant statues
Hollow-eyed, gaunt faces, didn’t their ancestors survive.

 

Peace is for everyone, who wants it

Peace is for everyone, who wants it
But as soon as another resists it
There is a boundary wall
But as soon as another resists it
There is a locked bolted door
But as soon as another resists it
There is a gun directed at you,
Through a broken locked window.
Peace is for everyone, who wants it
As long as not one person resists it.

 

Smell the Soil

in the corners of soil
squared shoulders cut
into the fit of their fate
corners cut to receive
cornered caskets of
youth who were cut
to believe that the
smell of a man cut
by fear is the smell
of a coward a man
to be cornered and
cut from the ranks
so as not to dilute the
acute smell of duty

 

Brothers, War & peace

Brother, War, says he doesn’t care for me
Never has, says even now he despises me
Always has, and laughs out loud at me.
I tell my brother, I don’t understand:
Brother, I love you.
But my brother spits like a camel in the sand,
He says, brother, Peace, I don’t just despise you.

Brother, Peace, I loathe you.
And I reserve the right to hate you.
You are my sworn, enemy I would dearly like to kill you.
Brother, War, I would gladly lay down my life for you
Tell you I love you, and you say we are, sworn enemies.
Brother, War, tell me what have I done…
What have I done to deserve such a deep animosity?

Brother, Peace, you embarrass me
I cannot abide this or any other concord between us.
You are like air a rainbow, that cannot be, caught
Brother, Peace, you sir is deceitful and cowardly,
But I, on… the other hand, am like the eagle rising above-
I am your lord & master; without my presence, elder
Brother who would appreciate you?

Brother, War, were that you were an eagle on the wind
I would but pluck out those evil feathers, one by one
And like a white dove naked you would plummet,
Praying for land, and longing for love beneath my lodgings.
You would long for a fig-leaf to cover your own
Dishonourable shame, flights of fantasy.

 

A medium

That best magnifies

A piece of my mind

To give me peace of mind,

Hand me the pen

And cue the white dove,

No pre-determined formula

Nor appraisal for the zen

We search for everyday.

But when luck has it

And light seeps

From this vessel,

The result of being

An advocate for light,

Touching souls

On being able to relate,

On ups and downs;

No greater euphoria.

When all is said and done

Granting peace to others

Far supersedes

My endless search

For inner peace.

******

Peace was born

in the eye of the storm

when time stood still

Peace was held

without expectations, without condemnations

without the dollar bill

Peace was yours

Peace was mine

Peace was free

Peace was found in quiet contemplations

in heart’s whispers

amidst the silence of trees

I searched for peace

in nature’s soul

to be whole

to find me.

 

The art of spreading peace
Begins with each of us,
Looking inside ourselves
To find peace with who we are,
The lives we lead,
The dreams we have.
If we all found our peace,
We would not be tempted to
Find it in
Drugs,
Violence,
Hate, or
Shaming
To feel better about ourselves.
Be brave, my friends, for courage
Is the first step toward
A better, peaceful world.

 

7.9 Billion Safe Corners

What can end the hate?
More hate? More anger?
More power?
Taking power away?

When do we realize we are all one thing?
Cogs in the wheel,
All necessary for us to move forward together.

When do we acknowledge our fears,
And choose the path of love
To resolve them,
Instead of the path of hate and violence?

What can you do, today?
Can you extend a smile
Where you might have passed by without looking?
Can you offer bread to those who are hungry
Without asking who deserves to eat?

Can you love your fellow man
Without asking if he deserves it?
Can you give him a reason to live
instead of die?

Can we all take care of our own
small corners of the world,
And make them safe?

Imagine if there were 7.9 billion safe corners in the world?
Can we work toward that?

 

“Dreaming of peace”

Dreaming a world without drones
Who are ravenous for living bones.
There are heaps and heaps of clones
Hovering in skies of faceless warzones.

We all yearn for peaceful homes
Devoid of any ostentatious thrones.
The world is frightened of nuclear cyclones
That can rip apart all identified and unknowns.

Violence appears to exist in our commanding hormones,
We should assemble all regarded as worthless gnomes
To make the commanding realize that we are gemstones,
Interested in peace everywhere and not tombstones.

 

Peace love, defend us

Let hope—reign
Let peace love, defend us
Let’s all be a bit more humane.

Count your blessing
Look out your windows
The world is a paradise
If we all just learn to share it
Peacefully like friends.

Count your blessing
Put down your bows & arrows
Let’s all live a little more humble
Let hope—reign.

Let peace love, defend us
Let hope—reign
Let every nation call you, neighbour
Oh brother, sister, friend
No one is higher born than another.

Oh the world is a paradise
Just look out your windows
The world is a paradise
If we just learn to share it
Peacefully like friends.

 

God, comes howling

God, comes howling children what is going on
I haven’t rested since I hung the golden sun

God, comes howling children what is going on
I haven’t peace since the stars candelabrum

God, comes howling children what is going on
I haven’t slept since I hung the silver moon

God, comes howling, shouting children what is going on
I haven’t closed eyes since the flowers festoon

The children called back Father, Father
We’re weary too we’ll all sleep & rest, soon.

 

FRACTURED PLANET

Hold on to your britches
It’s a fractured planet
There are no quick fixes
There is no universal magnate
So hold on to your crucifixes.

The world is fractured
We’re different—continents adrift
We’re people who, are fissured
There will always be a rift:
Shadowy-days when the sun eclipses.

Nights neighbouring, parties
Go to war; days when parleys
Confabs hit a brick wall
Putting us all, on a collision course.
I wish we were all non-combatant.

But it’s a fractured planet
There are no quick, easy fixes
There is no universal magnate
It vexes me one day we’ll be all out
And without any innings left to play

 

“she was the wall”

she slithered through the densely inhabited spaces

more translucent than the wall flower

she was the wall

by choice she moved unnoticed

a silent observer of all one would consider filth

but she saw beauty

in every crevice she found a crystal

in every drug addled alley she found royalty

in every darkness she found a light

 

Choosing Peace
Each new day that I awake,
I have a choice to make.
I may wake up disgruntled,
In a foul mood and certainly not humble.
Or I make arouse feeling overwhelmed
By the list of endless tasks that must be done.
I may roll out of bed feeling a bit upset with a neighbor or friend
And allow that anger to occupy and reside
in my aching heart and restless mind.
Then I might journey through the day
Never ridding of the bitterness along the way.
I could open my eyes in deep sadness
When realizing another dream, my latest
Hope has been utterly and completely crushed.
And in doing so I forget to gaze out the window
To see the shining sun or perhaps a rainbow
Arching in the sky after a night of storms;
And I don’t notice the wind gently cooling the earth.
I forget to call and say hi to a friend
Or to help and encourage someone
Who deeply needed to hear
Words of kindness to alleviate their hurt and fear.
I forget how God has created me
To reach out to others in tenderness, love, and peace.
It is by my own flawed human nature that
I focus on myself ever so selfishly
Seeing only how the day evolves around me.
But the Lord I know has a different plan
For me and for each of us living
Beneath the forever vast and lofty heavens.
And that is to choose by faith
To wake each morning and live each new day
Not doubting but in firm and steadfast belief
That we each have the ability to choose
To live with each other in heartfelt friendship,
Love and everlasting peace.

 

As no words whatsoever

Could penetrate sounds rancorous,

Vile verbal venom’d substance

Consumed, spewed–murderous threats

~

Thrust by daylight dark–

There was naught to

Do but bake Peace

Muffins for neighbors ensnared

 

HORMONES OF GOODNESS

Let us discover the hormones of goodness and inject it through the veins of the criminal minds.

Let The hormones dwell in their brain and format their thoughts

Let them forget the beheading and befriend their enemies.

Let them deactivate the bomb which they are about to blast.

Let them see their reflection in the prey ,they are about to rape.

Let them hug the one whom they are about to shoot.

Let them stop the war and host the white flag of peace.

let them take back the nuclear weapons to the place of its origin and bury it deep.

Let them ,kill the inhumanity and not the humans again.

Let them feel like the king Ashoka who gave up war,seeing the lifeless bodies around him and lived a life of goodness thereafter.

Let this be contagious and let them further spread the hormones of goodness.

let our world become a happy place,free from terrorism ,fights on politics ,religio,race and rapes,war and murder .

Let the hormones of goodness flow deeper and deeper and clense our earth and make it a place where the peace feels like home.

Let us invest in finding hormones of goodness .

With love-Crystalamay

 

“We Can Choose”

I can choose to look at a glass as half empty or half full

Every circumstance I face…can either help me stretch, or I can resist the pull

I can either face my obstacles, or I can flee

Make the most of the day, or wallow in self-pity

I can choose to be an inspiration to others, to encourage & ignite

Or, I can choose to create chaos, stir anger & strife

I can choose to be driven by lust, selfishness & greed

Or, I can choose to share, love & assist others in need

So, what will it be? Which pathway will you choose…

I choose….to be Enlivening

What about YOU?

 

Mid-August Again
–
Mid-August again
When the mid-August comes,
Lingering summer’s heat is felt mixed with a hint of autumn cool
Reminding me of the time when the Pacific war came to an end.
The war had devastated our country with millions of people killed.
But the Pacific war was not the only war.
Many other wars continued to go on today over the world.
–
It was three scores and eleven years ago
That a government of the people, by the people, for the people
Came to take over the military government of our war-torn country.
It was three months after I had begun schooling at seven.
At school, I had begun to be taught to stand in attention
Wherever I heard the word “Emperor”.
–
“What would you like to be when you grow up?” an adult might ask me.
“A soldier, sir.”
“Ah, good boy. And what are you going to do as a soldier?”
“Fight for my country, sir. Serve His Majesty the Emperor, sir. With all my body and life, sir.”
How could I know what I was saying meant then.
As far as that goes, did the questioner know what he was asking me either.
–
I was then separated far from my family.
All elementary school children were then forced to evacuate from their home towns
To remote rural areas so that we kids would survive in case their home towns turn to battle fields.
Even if the people were all killed, we kids would remain alive
To prevent the “Divine Yamato (Japanese) People” from being exterminated.
–
But we were more or less left forgotten in remote areas even without sufficient food.
My daily life then was made up of hunting for anything edible –
Soft weeds, hornet’s nest to pull out the grubs, frogs, mulberry, silkworm pupas, locusts, etc.
It was by my instinct to find anything edible to live in those days.
–
One day, there was a sudden announcement that the Emperor would speak on the radio.
It was impossible to imagine His Majesty the Emperor would talk directly to the people.
But we knew the announcement was true when we were told to come around the radio set.
There was only one radio set at the inn where we were staying.
We kids were thus told to come to the room where the radio set was.
But I was confined in a closet as I was being bullied by older kids.
“You are not good enough to hear the voice of His Majesty,” I was told.
From the inside of the closet, I could hear the fainting sound of the cicadas
And what I believed was the Emperor’s voice. I couldn’t understand a word he said.
–
After a while, I heard the kids running back from the room where the radio set was.
“Hey, war is over,” the same kid who bullied me opened the closet door and shouted to me joyfully.
Entire inn was filled with joyous voices of “War is over”, “The war ended.”
The kids who had serious looks until only minutes ago are shouting like real kids.
I don’t remember if any of them said to me, “Japan was defeated.”
–
The kids were not only the people who so quickly changed.
The world swiftly changed 180 degrees around me.
I was looking like a skeleton hunting for anything I could eat to survive.
But a few months later something in strange-looking bags and wraps were distributed among us.
They were some relief goods from America.
We kids had been trained to say, “American devils.”
But it changed overnight to say, “Americans, our savior.”
The older kids who bullied me showed unbelievable change, too.
Those kids would never forget to take some portion of my food rations.
But for the candies, cookies or whatever in the wraps from America,
They said to me, “Hey these are yours. You eat them all.”
–
Today, more than seven decades later, I can see myself looking like a skeleton
Reflected on the mirrors thousands of miles away.
The mirrors are the wars still going on half a way around the Globe.
I hear the news of kids hunting for weeds to eat.
I see the kids as the reflection of myself of those days on the mirror.
And I remember the pain of hunger which now makes me angry.
The anger is something I was too young to feel when I was a kid.
–
Who caused the Pacific war that made so many people suffer and die?
A war is the worst crime that can be committed on Earth.
There must be the perpetrators for all wars that break out.
Find the perpetrators.
–
I am now so angry that I could tie all such perpetrators to stakes.
I am so angry I could keep them tied to the stakes for days until they could feel the hunger that I felt.
The perpetrators might not know what the hunger could be unless they feel it themselves.
–
I am so angry I could burn the clothes the perpetrators are wearing with a torch
So that they would know by themselves the suffering of those who died in air raids.
–
I am so angry I could burn their clothes with a torch so that the clothes would stick to their skins.
A woman testified her clothes were burned instantly when the atom bomb exploded a mile away.
It was out of question to get a medical help then and her clothes were kept stuck to her skins.
Eventually part of her skins began to rot and flies came to lay eggs.
She is alive today and testified about the pains she suffered when the maggots were removed.
I would be happy to remove maggots one by one from the rotten skins of the perpetrators.
–
I’d be pleased to keep the perpetrators tied to the stakes to suffer pains and die
So that they could know by themselves the excruciating agony and pain many mothers went through.
There is a picture of a mother who died holding her baby in her arms.
She did not have the strength left in her body to shout for help. She was burned black.
The head of the baby is drooping and also black from burns.
–
Those who suffered and died number more than 3 million.
They are mostly children, women, the elderly and other powerless people.
They were born and have all the right in the world to live happy lives.
How could they want a war?
But, should they express an anti-war opinion, they would be subjected to arrest.
And I fear the history may repeat itself.
–
In the wake of the complete devastation by the war, our country renounced wars.
Under its new constitution it promised never to use force for settlement of international disputes.
Whoever penned the no-war Constitution, it was the greatest gift given to any people on Earth.
But there are signs today that the control over the constitution may be skillfully shifted from the people to the government.
Our country may arm itself again complete with the court martial
Under which the young people could be trained to kill or be killed.
–
Who are the perpetrators yearning to cash in on wars?
Are they inside or outside our country? Or are they inside or outside of our own heart?
Whoever or whatever they are, they are callous about the desire of the weak for peaceful life.
Whoever or whatever they are, I am ready to burn them by torch with my anger.

I Wake Up

I wake to bodies piled up outside my window.
I wake to young men shot in cars, Titans crushing towns,
Children with bullet-proof backpacks, women pushed facedown,
People pressing against fences and plunging into the Mediterranean Sea.
I wake and the transcript of Hate is scribbled down quickly by my television in shorthand.

I try my best to lend hand.
I spend my days helping an elderly woman carry her groceries up a hill,
Pushing cars out of ditches, paying for a stranger’s lunch;
I spend 16 waking hours trying to do alright.

At the age of 25 I finally decide Hope is a good thing, even as I
Step over the bodies of people that were not saved.
I drop my money and desires into a bucket,
Start helping the ones who have survived to their feet.

I give my shoulder and carry them as far as I can.
It is often a long walk.
I walk it.
If we trust each other we often make it.

I let go of a lot of things. I make choices.
I hold my hands over wounds and feel the blood pool in my palms.

I don’t give up on people.
I see them rise while holding up mountains.
I see them rolled and rocked by the wave but they do not break.
I see them hold the torch to the darkness, and with wild cry burn away the night.
I am awed and humbled, by their steadfastness, their ferocity and light.

Together, we carry the bodies down.
We lay them to rest and go back out to face great peril,
Go back and lay more bodies down.
We do not give up.

I wake and see you writhing in prayers to your god,
Choking on the tears of past hurts,
Desperately and courageously sowing yourself back up and
Stuffing your heart back into your aching chest I watch you
Go back out again and again, I say,

You are a wonder, do you know? Grass blade cut down
Again and again you refuse to die, and in this sight I know,
I will not give up on you.

Take my hand. We will face the darkness, together.

I will not give up on you.

 

Peace struggles in pain
Throughout human endeavour
God’s indifference.

 

” Time for a Change”

Look at what the world has become: Corrupt, filled with violence, meaningless drama in our lives and hatred towards one another,

Look at the innocent lives taken away as violence increases making people live in fear

Look at where the world is heading with political instability, corruption making us wander when peace will be finally restored

As people’s hatred towards one another through race and colour instead of living happily together

It is time for a change where freedom can be expressed without any resistance,

A time for a change where no one can live in fear and express each other freely,

Waiting for the day where we can finally breathe when the world is at a better place.

It is time for a new revolution, time for a new change and it is time to make a difference.

 

Peace
looked on,
surveying
our broken world.
Would we let him in?
Us angry, hateful men,
hearts and minds full of mistrust,
bent on carnage and destruction.
He knew he had no choice but to try.
Arms outstretched, he strode into the war zone.
We see him coming and laugh in his face.
Our weapons would soon destroy this fool.
Peace felt the pain of the bullets,
but carried on undeterred.
With Hope by his side
and Right at his back,
he dare not fail.
Without him
our world
dies.

 

Peace 俳句
one thought one breath peace
infinite unity sounds
heartbeats reject hate

 

Nice, Bastille Day 2016

bones splinter down the roads
like they do
here
here
&
where
your breath
cuts
thoughts
to
melt
with
sundown
&
sea
where
sea foam
froths
over the mound of bodies
watching
an evening sky
still
so clear
so profound
so dead
where
chalks breaking
into pieces
&
melting
in our fingers
waiting
to circle the world

 

Restoration for Peace 

Restore the freedom that was once stolen
Restore fragile heart that was once open
Restore a soul, that is now lost like a dungeon
Restore the faith of humanity
And bring persons in to unity
Restore the power of having dignity
And destroy the power of being greedy
Restore the love that was thought to be received and giventh for double eternity
And destroy the wheel of hate that driventh in human beings everyday
Restore peace in the cold hearted vigilantes
Restore peace and humanity
Because violence is not a true weapon anyways.

 

Queue 

I gasp through space of time

Waiting to be saved by a UFO

The energy that seems to be controlling movement of all prospects of life is dying

All living things that were seen precious are now scarce

I feared this at first

The power circle that surrounds and is set to motivate me somehow seem to fail me

I generate my metabolism through processed goods

The friend I believed to be a sister a decade ago is an enemy today

The leader I looked up to is one of the greedy ones of today

The memories made no longer makes one gasp and mesmerise

Instead they make one die inside and out

I gasp through the belief that chemical powder is seen as a dose for the suffering

I gasp through my habitat is no longer a safe environment but a smokey chimney

I gasp through the unsatisfactory lies I have to listen to in order to make my heart melt

The subliminal messages that are heard on speakers all seem to lead us to false pastures

This is my departure of this destination

I have flew to tomorrow land where nothing is promised

I have for seen the days that became untrue from my set beliefs

I have digested the leaves that swept and flew

I have drank the dark liquid that helped us in a few

We are each in this queue

Waiting to be set free…

 

as C may fit in Os
Ys in Xs
so will a d to a p – upside down
as I to any T – with little adjustments.

we all have a place
in everybody’s heart
chambers where all can have a spot
interconnecting vessels
leading to one circulating system.

no one will be left out
if only we welcome
whatever and whoever
fits.

 

A Plea For Peace;

What is my life
But that of a prisoner
in the grip of time.
No more are those moments
that brought serenity to me.
How innocent life was
When she reigned my world!
And then you came along,
And took her from me.
Now I walk in my madness,
Searching – I roam the grounds,
These acres where she dwelt.
It is not the love
of these sights I weep for,
It is for the absence
of my Peace that has taken
My heart that I weep.
O Ravager Of Love, I beg —
Give me my Peace back to me.
#poetsforpeace

Tears In The Concrete:

The city streets are empty
I cannot hear the sound of children playing
Bullet holes buried in the concrete
Old shell casings lay about the streets
I cannot hear the sound of children playing
Mothers keeping them inside
Not wanting to their children’s dreams die
The police and the protesters wage war
Right and wrong becomes a blurred vision
But the vision for peace remains clear
Mothers and fathers praying
The faith filled waving flags of hope
Peace flutters above for all to see
Maybe one day the world will look up
And see how beautiful peace can be
Maybe one day
There will be no more tears of sadness in the concrete

 

Two World Wars and Counting …
In World War One less than five per cent of the casualties were civilians – with today’s conflicts and wars the figure is nearer 75%.

War baby –
once a bundle of mixed acquaintance,
temporary, hurried, desperate -joy.
Love ceased when war began.

War baby –
is war; a disfigured bundle no one wants to heal;
permanent, scarred, tragic.
Lives ending as many wars begin.

War baby –
his bloodlust flows within blood –
conflicts- hostilities-civil war- religion- politics
all given more oxygen than its victims.

Peace baby –
wants to stitch together old wounds
extremism-radical eyes-terrorism-fear –
gaping sores, rancid hopes, let clean air help them heal.

Peace baby –
tries to broker for change in the dust and rubble
but cherubs still cry beyond wire mesh –
gods and people are tired, and YOU are not worthy.

 

We all live on the same planet.

We all need the same mix of air.

Designed to eat from Earth’s garden

And drink from bodies of water

Abundant in all of our bodies,

We all floated in our mother’s wombs

We all cry the same salty tears.

We are more alike than different.

You would think

we could all get along

If not for ourselves, then

For the sake of all children

of the great Mother Earth.

And we can.

 

Peace is something, we strive to hold,
We say the words, but another story is told,
Peace can only be found, with blood and gore.
Do we even remember, what we’re fighting for.

But what is peace, do we have an answer?
To stop the fighting, to rid the cancer,
One dark soul spreads, like a disease,
Infecting minds, of those that please.

So what is peace, happiness & Joy?
It’s a word we throw around, like a toy,
The true meaning, may be lost,
How is found? does it come at a cost?

We must unite, and stand together,
We’ll pass this world, to our little treasures,
It should be a happy world, we see & hear,
Not a place, our children will fear.

 

Your name maybe war,
But my name is peace
Your name maybe devastation
But my name is beautiful
Your name maybe abuse, but my name is love

For every stone you raise, I will shine a light
For every gun you raise, I will give back love

There was once a man who said “I have a dream”
There was once a man who said “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”

Today I am that dream-
A dream where boundries of colour is overlooked
A dream where race is no more an issue
Today I am that change-
A Change for hope
A Change for a brighter tomorrow

Your name and meaning may run like hot lava
causing chaos and instability
But no more will you take control

The world has seen enough of you
Enough of your venum
Enough of your instability

Countries are left desolate
Homes are destroyed
Families are thorn apart
Children are left as destitutes

Children are left as orphans
No longer able to rest-
On the bossoms of loved ones

We cry out for change
We cry out for peace
We cry out for our dreams
We cry out for love

Your darkness creeps in unawares
But know that light will surely prevail.

 

through those pieces of mind,
shattered & broken, she set out
to find some rays of hope,
some ways to cope,
with this cruelty that life had
gifted her with,
she was stubborn,
she was adamant,
she would never let go,
until she found what
she was yearning for,
something she was searching for,
a home,
a place so cozy,
a place of sanctity,
a hand to hold,
a shoulder to cry,
then she found him,
her everything,
her peace…

 

 

HUMANITY

I hope that humanity restores it’s faith
I hope where there is sadness and tears lights may shine upon their fate
I hope that in some months all these nightmares will seems very far
I hope that all of our archaic thought would vanish in fumes
I know that lives have been broken
I know that faith has been bent
I know that our heart is bruised
But in this time of crisis
Should we let all these bitterness continue consuming us
Should we let faceless people continue igniting fright in us
Or should we raise above abominations and show our humanity
To the monsters that kills our humanity
War is useless and unnecessary
Love and compassion is everything.

 

 

THE WHOLE OF HUMANITY

There is a sadness in the air. Even the birds can sense that humanity is hurting, suffering.

I look and I see mourning, and if not mourning I see fear disguised as anger and prejudice.

The coming together eases it a bit, but I wish in time the souls who are here at any given moment could look in another’s being and recognize we are not very different at all…

We all have a place and a right to live our lives while traveling here together.
The ride would be so much nicer if we were surrounded by love and respect.

Stand and offer your hand to your fellow being. Recognize that they have pain and struggle and they are just trying to get by.

Recognize that “your way” is right for you, just as “their way” is right for them. Neither right…neither wrong…just different.

If we could honor that the differences we see make up a WHOLE…they fill the missing pieces, and one is not better without the other…rather we are strengthened when we allow and join…

Then we create THE WHOLE OF HUMANITY, rather than the HOLE IN HUMANITY!

 

 

BITTER MORTIFICATION – AN ANGUISHED LAMENT

In a hamlet buzzing with life there stands a dwelling desolate and ostracised

It’s gates are barred and windows heavily draped and blinded

At close deliberation I perceive shuffled movement and incoherent sounds from within

An irresistible urge an intrusive instinct I find myself drawn to the forsaken door therein

To behold a wraith distorted and distracted in a state of abject agitation

Vehemently she pronounced the denunciation of her progeny a stern proscription

Severing all chords which strengthened when the umbilical cord distended

Mournfully she reminisces the inexplicable joy of motherhood

The procreation of self the infant she had rapturously suckled and nursed

Rejoiced and celebrated his childhood and adolescence

Now unable to envisage a metamorphosis so horrendous

Which shamed her stern vigil and created an insurgent so hideous

What angst? What dissension? Bred such senseless insurgence

In vain she ponders had she nurtured him on anarchy violence and abhorrence

Her credibility questioned she struggled to trace any perceptible contribution

In manifestation of those grotesque fanatical alien dimensions

The evolution of a Mephistopheles a demonic exterminator

On a relentless rampage striking with recurring frequency and spasmodic violent waves

Leaving behind carnage and bloodshed at an accelerated pace

A reign of terror fracturing humanity with fissures widening

A sullied mortality a bleeding fraternity visibly segregating

Drifting in distrust and apprehension seeking refuge in personal spaces

Sowing seeds of hatred hostility and animosity among races

With a heart wrenching lament she cried

Oh!That scourge! A black sheep will never be welcome to my fold

And never to be misquoted or misconstrued she does not wait for the prodigal

But seeks atonement in reformation of his creed to conserve humanity

To usher repose and the dawn of the reinstatement of love peace and universal brotherhood.

 

Peace Is No Longer Abstract

Peace is no longer abstract
Peace is a child covered in dust
Tossed and distressed
By the hands of war

Peace rebukes in silence
Bleeds in the open
Pleads, begs
But will the world listen?

Peace is no longer abstract
Peace knocks on our door
Gently in chaos, once more
Look what we’ve done to peace.

 

Climate, war, hunger
Let’s focus our hearts and minds,
We can change our world.

 

Neighbors

Half, full or quarter view: one moon shines
Tomorrow, now, then: all endless time
You, me, them: flesh and blood, all life heirs.

We’re letting fear, greed and false beliefs
limit our freedom to stretch our hearts
round the globe to people here and there.

Sages say love neighbors as ourselves
And earth’s so constant moon radiates
golden beams to show us how to care.

 

 

***

Walk With Me

***

Walk with me

With purpose

We shall not walk alone

Walk with me 

Beside me

There is nowhere else

To go

Walk with me

Eyes forward

See what we see

Walk with me

Beside me

There is nowhere else

To go

Walk with me

Explain, possibly disagree 

Respect, explore, encourage

Walk with me

Beside me

There is nowhere else

To go

Walk with me

Please

I crave peace within

Walk with me

Beside me

There is nowhere else

To go

Walk with me

And feel my hand

Envision those to come

Walk with me

Beside me

There is nowhere else 

To go

Walk with me

United

Our touch remains the same

Walk with me

Beside me

There is nowhere else

To go

Walk with me

Be mindful

Our burdens not the same

Walk with me

Beside me

There is nowhere else

To go

Walk with me

We’ll listen

Hearts open wide

Walk with me

Beside me

There is nowhere else

To go

 

 

TURRET

General stood smiling on
top of a tank for commemorative
picture before the campaign started

such images unified
country and solidified
brave and timid under a flag

until the bishop arrived and
blessed the troops sanctified
all ammunition to make sure

they all find targets and since
this attack was already blessed
and dignified by officials

let the trumpet sound its
marching paean and let the
troops take charge of details

 

In a world full of diverse cultures
And different beliefs
It is hard to find peace
We all want our own way
To be the accepted way

But we must live together
In this vast global market
And to do that one thing must reign

Respect

We must respect the differences
We have with each other
The differences that make us who we are
And who we will become

Respect is lost in our American culture
Respect for parents is losing ground
Respect for authority is a battlefield
Respect for our employers is waning
Respect for each other has turned to bullying

It seems we all want our own way
I am right
You are wrong
NO – That is wrong

To find peace, we must learn to respect
Each other for who they are
And for what they represent

Peace is possible and is oh so close
If we would just learn to respect

 

Isn’t this who; we are

The biggest monument to peace
Ever built was the Great Wall of China.
Troubled times, constitute bigger walls
Fear is the fabric of life.
What we don’t fear we embrace
Like a woman; dressed in, invisible silks.
Isn’t this who; we are, Isn’t this the human race

 

The silent lament weighed heavy on us

as we took leaden steps forward

over the carpet of death at our feet.

Lament for love lost, the opportunity cost

of ‘Your Country Needs You’

the finger pointing, an accusation aimed for the heart

mirrored now by the blasted tree trunk

and the broken spire

piercing the cloud-laden sky.

What sons, what daughters will never be born?

What sons, what daughters will be wasted in the mud and spilled guts at our feet?

Hours, and days, spent waiting, ribs near-breaking

in the silence

broken only by our breathing

and the scratch of pen on paper

a letter to Mother, to dear Daisy, the love of my life

to while away, to wish away

the terror, lurking, a great carrion crow over our heads

its black wings our mourning shroud

most likely

 

Who knows what wisdom
humanity will reveal,
when we’re in and out
of hope and doubt
and the bleeding
exceeds the healing?
For we’re only
passing through
and then…
adieu.

 

We Cannot

We cannot live
in fear and hate.
We cannot live
in a world of fear and hate.

We cannot stand
by either.
Love being the only solution –
for there can be no other.

Fear and hate
must be laid to rest
so that we may go forward.

We cannot let
fear and hate
wear yet another mask.

We cannot live
in fear or hate
of the one, the few
or the some.

We cannot live in their cage.
We cannot fear or hate
our brothers and sisters.
We cannot.

We can only live
in freedom.
We can only live
in love.

Our hearts stronger
than either.
For fear and hate are weak.
We are not.

 

Let the assent of winter make you bold,
Not cold .
Let the cold breeze hitting your face ,
Remind you of the sunny days to brace.
Let not the ones in cage belittle your ambitions ,
Rebel against the wrong conventions.
Soon you will soar ,
While they behind the locked bars shall hoar.
The fragile are subdued by the tide of time;
But you who’re so strong and bold,
But you who’s a jewel more valuable than gold,
How can YOU  yield to the surge’s swell ?
You shall not get conquered by the whirlpool,
because you’re the whole mighty ocean.
You’re lightening and you’re thunder ,
You’re a volcano and you shall not surrender.
You can bend and you can mend ,
You can break and you can fix ,
You’re powerful not weak,
You’re not the Phoenix that rises from the ashes ,
You’ll make the ashes,
You’re fire .

 

 

Concerned eyes see
Yet have no voice
Glazed eyes blink
Ignoring tragedies
Desperate eyes cry
Having no comfort
Angry eyes revenge
World takes notice
Inevitable eyes of history
Shows cause and effect
Clear eyes of wisdom
Calling in the wind
Loving eyes of a dove
Declaring peace

 

The world’s a garden
Plant seeds you wish to see grow
Only peace grows peace

 

We all are one

If only you could

See the world as one

Instead of different part

We all are united

Its the same moon and stars

Lets write peace

And heal crack

Of the world

Lets be poet for peace

And show we are together

Let poetry heals

Our heart

Let spread just

Peace and love,..

 

Words home

For poets

Where they weave

Peace and happiness

Instead of soldiers

We need more poets for peace

Instead of cry and scream

We need more poetry

 

If I could restrict

Myself to a single place

To a particular religion ‘

But no I can’t

I am human

The world my home

And I

Poet for peace forever..

 

In the world

I see people spreading terror

I see people supporting them

I see people being killed

And I see also

Poets for peace ,,’

 

When I see the world

I feel the burn

I drink deep the pain

And write to stitch stars

I search peace

In my own words..

 

When I hear

Chirping of birds

I feel I am somewhere else

But chaos of the world

Hits back I write

Hiding taste of steel

I paint dream

Knowing trapped

It will be in a book

Kept in library ..

 

I see people

Wearing drape

Of religion

And saying

Their god is great

But maybe they

Have forgotten

The difference

Between human

And god ,,

To identify human

You don’t need a tag

You just need

A pure heart

Which doesn’t

Judge others

Based on

Caste creed or race

I see people

But without heart

 

A note scribbled

With chalk on sidewalk

More then words

A plea for peace

By a child who

had lost her all

A prayer from her

Glowed under

The moonlight ..

 

I spilled ink

And painted

A virtual vision

Of a beautiful world ..

But how to

Douse the fire

When I see

The world burning

How to bring peace ..

 

When I see

Humanity affected

By none other then human

I feel if this is earth

How would be hell..

Peace lost somewhere ..

 

We all are

Like stars

all are equal

Bounded by

Peace and love

But Unity is broken

Mask of humanity lost

Each day I dream

A better world..

 

One day maybe

I wont be scared

Of the negativity

Around me.,

One day maybe

There will be

Just peace ..

One day maybe

 

In my words

There will be

Always more

Of peace ..

That’s what

The world needs

Poets writing

Prayers – poetry

 

There’s enough

Negativity in

The world..

At least here

In words

Write peace

That’s what

The world needs..

 

I belong to the world

Then why to drape

Myself in a flag

The world my home

I just understand

The language of peace

I will be writing

Just peace

 

The real freedom

When each home

In the world has

A flag of peace

That’s what for me

Is the real freedom

 

I write peace

Because that’s what

I want..

I weave happiness

Because that’s how

I want to see the world

I fight darkness

As I want to

Feel alive ..

I hear it all

Innocents being killed

Children’s cry..

I spill tears

I hold my heart

I write a prayer ..

I try to find

Peace lost forever ..

I am

I will be

Forever “poet for peace”

 

Like you I see the world as grey,
filled with those who trade in death,
who riches gain as they trade in guns,
designed to take man’s last breath.

I wish for a world of peace,
of caring of tolerant thought,
while man stalks those he wants to kill,
with bombs or weapons bought.

Today I seek a pact in hope,
that Hugs may gain some ground,
and that 12 months from this day
The world in love abounds.

 

What is happening to this world?
Brother against brother we stand.

I see a playground
and on it, little children:
brothers and sisters
fighting over a Father’s love.
One Father, many children, one family.

I see a playground
and on it, little children:
the bullies and the victims,
fighting over their differences.
Some invited in, others cast out.

I see a playground.
On it, just little children:
the popular and the unpopular,
fighting over the right
to be on this playground.

Who decided this?
Why?
When?

The playground didn’t change much,
nor the rules of the game.
Neither did we.
We are the children of Yesterday.

I see you, men and women:
Yesterday’s children,
fighting over land that is not yours.
Deciding fates, directing lives
you do not own.

Creation –
Humans, animals, plants, water, land.
You are stewards of these, not owners.
Never forget.

Beware, little children,
for time is a fragile thing,
like wings of a butterfly on the wind.
Do not stray, little children,
for time is a sharp-edged sword.

So, play nicely, little children.

 

Blood Brothers

Hear, O Israel and Ishmael’s sons,
Growling behind our misfortunes of birth,
Ancient disputes seethe with dogma as fuel –
Scores of our martyrs are blocking our path.

Growling behind our misfortunes of birth,
Horsemen disguised as our prophets of hope –
Scores of our martyrs are blocking our path,
Land is just dirt and is not worth our blood.

Horsemen disguised as our prophets of hope;
Fear stains our movements and colors our nights.
Land is just dirt and is not worth our blood,
Who will protect us when gods turn away?

Fear stains our movements and colors our nights.
Goodwill: the one ruse we’ve yet to employ.
Who will protect us when gods turn away?
Prayers are bullets from pulpits of hate.

Goodwill: the one ruse we’ve yet to employ,
Ancient disputes seethe with dogma as fuel,
Prayers are bullets from pulpits of hate,
Hear, O Israel and Ishmael’s sons!

 

AND IT’S DARK

My dark soul, darkens my heart, darkens

my mind,

lead-ing

to a black

dark room where I feed the darkness, to all.

*I know, darkness is pain , that never ends!*

waiting,read never and red its ,bits in me Cut

be to

read

!read and

!feels read-ding & red-ding how me tell Don’t

*! ! traces in beats still that ,heart a have I For*

I consumed me, in hunger, I ruined me with my

anger

for breed

and bread!

i know, how losses are like! , and what grieving is!

*For I’ve been searching me, for ages! in despair!*

or silence-s having violence-s in ,me see don’t I

silence-s

of full

violence-s!

!sight no with,like is blind being what feel do I For

* PEACE the for rise to ,me for waiting is I Since*

And this ** makes me a HUMAN who still breaths for

The Humanity

Lives for

The Planet

With a dream to share a common & peaceful home

*Because I lost me and became homeless, in crowds!*

#–forward-backward–#

#poetsforpeace

 

Wind Whispering to Me
Soft wind flows whispering to me;
Ever so gently branches sway in the breeze.
I pause to listen and to quietly see
That soft wind blowing and whispering to me.
So tenderly the wind filters the trees
As the pines swish and dance beneath the gleam
Of a warm and radiant sunbeam.
The lofty heavens span out like a vast sea
Where waves swell and rise majestically
Only to shrink into a placid pool of tranquility.
Endless sky blankets the earth in an aquamarine canopy
So silently crowning the waving evergreens
As the wind continues to whisper to me.
I sit in contented silence to just quietly be
Still and secretly enchanted by the whistling breeze;
What is the wind saying? What could the message be?
How I did ponder under the awning of the windswept trees.
Softly blowing, gently moving, I could feel and see
The mysterious wind faintly whispering to me.
How noise and clatter of this world can be displeasing
While trials and troubles seem never ceasing
But as I waited, the gentle wind whispered to me:
“Just be still and treasure this moment of peace.”

 

Now to Forever

What is the distance between now and forever?
Is it measured in light years?
Generations?

Or maybe the moments between burnt toast for breakfast
and the birth of a generous deed

Moments between what is damaged by rage
and that which is healed with compassion

Let’s be diligent choosing a focus, dear friends,
for it’s now that builds forever…

 

Peace is inside of me
I need it to be!

Washed are the shores
where the armies
have been.

Freedom as an
expression from my
highest Self

finds me breathing,

and sharing that breath.

Because I AM alive!
A force of nature
with energy for
listening, sharing

holding you,
you, holding me.

 

in Ruby for Women in February
Stones are not for throwing

Dressed Stones
Lifting each stone
From the ground
I inspect its size
and shape
preparing it to fit
with its fellows.
I chip, pound,
hammer round
so each stone
will slide into
its rightful place
building my poem–
the bridge
linking my heart
to yours.

 

 

in the middle of a dry song

i know what i am looking for
when i hide in the middle of a dry song…

it is peace…

peace for everything
peace from everything
from what throws you into a corner of the world
where the mother of loneliness lives…

nothing captures best the voids in your heart
than these eyes
i have let my hands lend through the fire in my heart
to pick these voids
i am crushing them into a blank sheet and they are turning into
mouths shouting back at me in different tongues
shouting for peace
crying for help on the heaps of helplessness
in choking letters scribbled by the tears of soulful spirits
i say again nothing captures best the voids in your heart
than these eyes
when you see the madness and men killing men
to appease their beasts in the name of God
when an innocent woman’s head is turned a sudden medusa
in the hands of beasts playing insane perseuses
turning everyone to stones
dreads dreads dreads for the soul of peace
turning my heart to stone!
while we are at it pushing the world into the mouth of peace
from the bombs swallowing our lives
from steels, cold with death…cruel death
while we are at it…pu-sh-i-ng the world into the mouth of peace…

i say again nothing captures best the voids in your heart
than these eyes
when you begin to think a time-devil in every friend
when you begin to think of waiting wars in every peace be unto you
in every handshake and laughter
when you begin to think doubts in your peace
and you are a pierced peace…a pierced poetry
when you begin to think think think and think
until you become blank
and peace again…

i know what i am looking for
when i hide in the middle of a dry song…

it is peace…

peace for everything
peace from everything
from what throws you into a corner of the world
where the mother of loneliness lives…

 

A Mingled Cup.

When upon the world of men I think,
Its tender love, its lust for power,
A disturbing, mingled cup I drink
With tastes both sweet and bitterly sour.
A child’s laughter, whilst joy most bright,
Is lost in the staccato burst of gun
And innocence is damaged by the blight
Of injustice and gain corruptly won.
Then dark thoughts oppress and sadden,
That we who on this blue planet live,
Each other so callously burden
Taking much more than we ever give.
The horror of sharing this miracle of life
And wasting it in division and murderous strife.

 

If I had a wand.

If I had a wand to wave over this world
for what then would I wish?

The first: for warring humanity to beat
swords into plow shares and turn hearts to peace.

The second: for government to free its shackled mind,
rule in justice for the poor,
and seek equity and equality of opportunity.

The third: for the relentless plundering of the earth to cease,
for every acid stream and every gaping ruined landscape to heal,
for water to be clean, the glaciers full,
and forests free in their glorious diversity.

The fourth: that all creatures could have their place
on this life-filled planet,
that soft-eyed orangutans
could hang unharassed in their forest homes,
that no more rhino or elephant
would ever again lie bloated and fly blown,
killed for horn or tusk,
and the tiger could rumbling purr
in sleepy peace in the flecked sunlight.

Yes, like prophets, dreamers, visionaries, poets,
if I could I would wave that wand

but I must settle for what I can do, so
if I can re-make this heart,
step by step, day by day,
in gentleness and kindness,
in tender, merciful love for all things,
if I can be slow to anger and quick to forgive,
if I can live in harmony and peace,
if I can tread lightly on this earth,
this must be sufficient for me,

though I will still lift my eyes heavenwards,
hoping, dreaming, desiring
so very much more
and thinking as well as “If I”
“If we”.

 

Somme Cemetery.

A soft grey mist covers the distant ridges,
lies close upon the green folds
and drips off the thousands of white crosses
standing rigidly at parade ground attention,
marked with this sad simplicity:
“A Soldier of the Great War”.

Hard to think that in this landscape a century ago
a nightmarish Nationalism
opened its maw and rumbled creaking
over the green folds, quiet woods and farmlands,
venting a reeking stench
of mud, barbed wire, crater holes, shells, gas,
kilometer upon winding kilometer of trenches
and a tangled twist of young lives
stuck in the mud or huddled
beneath the thud of artillery
or emerging into the staccato spray of machine gun.

Yes, it is quiet. The landscape is green.
The guns have gone. The young men are dust.
Gone too are their mothers, or lovers,
their brothers, sisters, family, friends.
Gone too is the mud, the gas, the trenches,
the inconsolable grief and loss,
but a soft grey mist covers the distant ridges,
lies close upon the green folds
and drips off the thousands of white crosses
marked with this sad simplicity:
“A Soldier of the Great War”-

For the day is weeping, quietly weeping,
and must go on weeping still.

 

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR

He was a man of his word

A man of few words
A tower of strength
Kept all at wavelength
The unwanted at arm’s length
One who believed less is more
Unlike the strengthless
Who speak more and more
But mean less and less.

 

 

Conquer with Love

King of kings and Lord of lords,
Laid down His life for us all.
Scorned and pierced,
His mighty army could conquer them all.
A powerful lion became a gentle lamb.
Give us love in place of condemn.
His victory is not by might,
But by His never changing love and peace.
Displaced

We – my wife and our three
Live in a small village
Our life is simple
Fetching water from the well
Grinding grain to make flour
Washing in a bucket
We knew of troubles in other parts
But never dreamed it would touch our hearts
The rebels, IS, came
And to our shame
Raped our women, stole our crops
Freedom fighters followed
Boom, our village is now a war zone
But bullets and bombs don’t just kill soldiers
I lost a daughter and a kind old neighbour …
Too many killed, now there is no song
Down by our well
We are living in hell!
So to keep my loved ones safe
We need to leave our home place
Crossing seas and borders we must face
Cos surely if we stay here there may be no trace
Crops and homes destroyed
Families scattered like lego toys!
Our quiet simple life
Has become a place of real strife
Need to save my kids and wife
Others can never understand
What it costs to leave your own land!
Can foreigners find kindness and give us a hand?
Do we, safe foreigners, really stop to think
Of this devastating stink
That war causes in those far away places?
Families displaced, traumatised by war
We need to dig deep and help these poor
For their home place is now rotten to the core

Peace comes from within and I sincerely believe that only by understanding the harsh reality of conflict – personal and global – can we become more motivated to change within, in order to become the change we all need!

 

 

Poet for Peace.

A small voice called out
in the wilderness:
“Why must you throw
your sticks and stones?
Why grow anger,
instead of love?
Or, do you even know?

But then,
the great wind came,
blowing the small voice
from pole to pole.
Yet, its whisperings spread.

“Why must you throw
your sticks and stones?
Why grow anger,
instead of love?
Or, do you even know?

Brother asked sister.
Sister asked brother.
Husbands and wives,
partners…
questioned why.
The neighbours wondered
whether a cup of sugar
would be better instead.

Slowly but surely,
the people started looking in,
instead of blaming out.
After all, peace in our world
begins in our hearts.

And so,
after scattering the seed,
the small voice called on
the sun, rain and soil,
waiting for love to grow.
Together we are stronger
And our voices will be heard
We want to join together
And make a difference with our words
The world has become divided
So much blood had now been shed
It is time to become united
And find a peaceful way instead
No one wants to live their lives
With a cloud above their head
Wondering if this is the day
That they will end up dead
I thought this earth we were given
Was for all of us to share
Regardless of our differences –
But it seems nobody cares
Wouldn’t it be boring?
If we were all the same
We need tolerance and understanding
And a very open mind
It doesn’t take much effort
To be courteous and kind
Let’s all make the effort
To stand together and be strong
And teach the next generations
That we can all get along!

 

Our World to Keep?

As we struggle with complex inner feelings

Clouds in our heads can send us reeling

It’s up to us to learn as we grow

To keeps our thoughts well in tow

The world is our habitat to eat and sleep

The world is our cradle to laugh and weep

We must play our role in this thing called life

To keep peace on earth and avoid all strife

From sunrise to sunset it’s our world to keep

If we reap what we sow and sow what we reap

 

 

Within
Genuine peace can only come from within
We can rave and rant about war and violence
Check who profits from sales of WMD
Know that the fodder, people killed, are expendable!
No politician’s children ever join the war cause?

Who has ever really won a war?
Look closely at history and explore
Local citizens, children galore
Are the ones harmed, see a flaw!
So why do we start even more?

Do we continue to tie ourselves in knots
Or try to calm our angry minds
Look inside to see what you find?
We feel righteous, powerless and unkind.
Healthiest solution is to tame our own mind!

As we become more peaceful and content
Empowers us to clearly vent
Draws others in and we may score a win
War and DV are a sin, so let us all begin
To calm ourselves and our kin?

Only then can we know real peace
Defence recruit the vulnerable
They and their family are fleeced!
Live by the change you seek to make
Then no one can accuse you of being fake!

 

step towards towards the light
take back my birth
hide in radiance
my assaulted face smiles
my spirit shouts loud

 

I stood by the fence in my yard, little hands with splinters,
And dreamt I was across the road, a normal child on a normal day.
Hours were spent climbing an old sap, wrapping my legs around the branches,
Clinging to the story my own imagination had created,
I fell from the limb that day. I landed on my back,
where I struggled for air as it left me and tears burned my eyes.
That was the day my mother returned and everything changed.

A childhood, a blur of another time filled with seashells, gasoline, and tree climbing.
A collage of playing house with him, as he brushed my hair, stroked my cheeks, and touched me.
Here, there. Places unseen but always felt. Unnoticed but always known.
A melted pot of belts hitting flesh in the form of punishments, in words being used as knives, and the
Fence, in the yard, where I once played in my little dress, growing taller, bolder.

We left. My mother took us away to Florida, a place of sun and sand.
A place, she said, for peace. A fresh start, a new beginning, a clean slate.

In Florida, we had a new fence, which grew impossible to escape.
The melting pot, the collage of endless experiences stirred round and round
As boyfriends abused, absent mothers ignored, medications were given to treat,
The symptoms of the day,

The symptoms, which in reality, were nothing more than a deterrence.
A lie to hide the truth of child abuse and poor choices made by those too afraid to face them.
It was clear that the only way to obtain peace was to tell the truth. The only way to let go was to open my
Angry fists and reveal what was already known but ignored: The bruises wouldn’t speak for themselves.
I must take action for them.
The emotions wouldn’t illustrate all that had gone wrong in a little yellow house in the woods surrounded by a fence.

A fence too tall for a child to crawl over but I was not a child anymore.
On the other side of the fence, there was a latch, one I couldn’t see before that read,

“There is a peace when you understand,
When you accept that it was not your fault.”

 

How many more condolatory statements do we make?
How many more senseless deaths does it take?
Love begets love and hate begets hate
Is that not simple enough to get?
Trust, respect, tolerance and sensitivity
Freedom to choose one’s own identity
Are these values too difficult to strive for?
Or are they just mere words driving people to war?
If not for us, then for our children
Is it too much of an expectation
To demand a world sans vilification?
In the interest & prosperity of future generations
Let’s all imbibe the values of tolerance & patience.

 

CROSSEYED

Once as I lay in a meadow
a soft yellow butterfly lit upon the tip of my nose.
And as I observed it closely, the slate gray clouds turned into horses
and teddy bears, and a fluffy castle
with Windows casting lanvender shadows.

And the airplane which moved in slow motion
across the left borderline of my vision
was an imperfect distraction
in an otherwise flawless production cast
upon a fuzzy blue upside down stage.

The sun changed into a mouth opened
in silent golden laughter.
And the flowers each played wood winds
whose music contained a vapor
that metamorphosed me into a universe
imprisoned inside a dew drop.

Till I fell to the ground and burst
and went shooting into infinity
at a thousand light years per thought
past time beyond the end
to the beginning
where I find myself
on the tip of the nose
of a dead soldier.

 

WAR
the people we hate most
are the ones we have not met
whose minds we can read
WAR$
we must kill them all
before they kill us becau$e
becau$e becau$e ‘cau$e

 

The Cycle

Dark Age
ignorance, destruction, violence
the fearful band together
to contain, restrain, constrain
civilizing this Time’s
Golden Age
to question, create, explore
achieving complacence
once again

Shadows creep unnoticed from horizon
into unwary hearts that have no fear
or sense of other
or of love
Their first act shocks the world
to flurry anguish settling
to comfortable couch outrage
binge-watching shoot-em-ups
from the fifties

Was that the news
or just another episode
of mass shooting senseless violence reckless hate?

What can we do?
What can anybody do?
It is insane.
I see no hope.
Yes, this is a very comfortable couch.

Until it isn’t
Springs poke through
Too much anger, frustration, discontent
the hundredth monkey finally arriving
after the third act
or the fifth
or tenth

Standing to make room
swallowing their fear with the blood flowing
past their homes. along their streets, in their veins
until it boils
over
away
to purify us all

and birth
another
chance
for
hope

 

Weeping Mother

She has a beautiful smile
men will not just hold her
golden hair tassels as wheat
in summer’s breeze
I said- Come, I will embrace you
and she said,
Men make war of such things
my belly is poverty
without their seed.
So I asked – Where are your children?
She said,
They were taken and sold
the barren are made whores
and the fertile birth wars.

 

Poet For Peace

“A Silent Peace”

Silence, Silence…
is the only thing that
I hear from the darkness…
is the only thing that I can see

But yet there’s no known fear
since there’s only peace
here underneath the water
where I’m floating half conscious
and half asleep…

But very slowly…
I close my eye’s
to see I’m still
underneath the
water And lured
in by the peace
then I finally fall
off to sleep…

Finally I’m at peace…

 

Step away from this dark corner
let your heart lead the way.
Thinking in a box of fearful thoughts
afraid of the other,
leads to imprisonment with defined edges,
slashing at silhouettes that only appear
as the enemy.
Walk away from this shadow
follow the music of trust in love.
What you think is the opposition
is only just another
scared and searching
no different than the face in
your bathroom mirror each morning.

 

Choice

Blinded by greed and illusory need,
We can blot out the guns and the loss of our sons
And our daughters who bled and the child that lies dead
For some war of attrition, caused by the ambition of cold politicians.
*
‘It is over the sea’ and ‘it can’t affect me’,
So the litany goes. Insecurity grows
And the synthetic fear they created is here
So we’re watching each other, distrusting our brother and hate one another.
*
As lambs to the slaughter, we think as we ought to,
Obedient sheep, we are living in sleep.
We are manipulated till war is created
Believing the snipe and the media hype till their mandate is ripe.
*
They call it our duty and blind us to beauty,
Creating confusion. Refuse their illusion!
My peace begins here, in rejection of fear,
When I choose to be free, to wake up and to see that my brother is me.
*

Poet For Peace

Peace

A precious word I have been thought
from the day I was born

a word made of many words
a word made of many colors
a word made of many thoughts

a word to be shared

a word that rhyme with love
and acceptance

find harmony inside yourself
to walk peacefully during your life path
with enlightenment

love yourself to love one another
open your mind to freedom
and maintain it possible in this world.

 

 

Bad Taste

rattle of sabers
clatters against teeth and tongues
peace tasting like war

 

 

“If you could
have three wishes, what?”
Number one–
always “peace.”
I’ve been repeating that word
since I was a child.

What is peace?
Easy to say what
it is not–
not guns, not
bombs, not hate or violence.
Not this destruction.

There are seeds
but they need sunlight–
fertile soil
to nourish
growth, to send roots; open space
to reach for the sky.

This is not
complicated. This
happens if
we let it–
the Earth can teach us if we
can’t find our way home.

 

If Just for Today

If just for today,
I could conquer the world –
I wouldn’t.

No.

I don’t want to be in charge.
I’m far too fallible
And immensely too human.

If just for today.
I could conquer the world –
I wouldn’t.

No.

I don’t want to be the boss
The one to push others down,
So that I can be the victor.

If just for today,
I could conquer the world –
I wouldn’t.

What would I do, instead?

If it were mine to decide
The course of this one day
For the entirety of Earth?

Well…

When I woke, and stretched
And felt the peace of this new day
Everyone would wake in peace.

When I sipped coffee
Rousing slowly and sweetly
Everyone would have space to relax.

When I wrote in my journals
Pages of hopes, dreams, and intents
We could all fill pages with goodness.

When I fed the dog
And gave him fresh water
Everyone would be nourished and quenched.

When I chatted with my son
About deep things and nothing at all
We could all listen and be heard.

When I washed the windows
In the autumnal afternoon light,
Clarity would be a gift for us all.

When I embraced my daughter
And we laughed together
Everyone would find joy in another.

And so it would go
All through this day
As I go about my life.

Each little thing I did, or do
Would or will ripple out
And touch us all.

So on this day when I might
Conquer the world
I choose instead to love it.

 

The great tragedy

That when in form all the same

We scream “different!”

 

Hubris

Did the tree in reaching up
Claim to understand the sky?
Did it tell the other trees
What heaven has demanded?

Did the sky when looking down
Teach the tree most plainly?
How it wished the tree to reach
And how in turn to bend?

Yet we beneath the same blue sky
Pretend to know its purpose
And wage cruel war implacably
Upon those who oppose us

And still the sun full shining down
Upon the trees and bitter men
Shows no biased preference
Nor calls us “chosen creatures”

So like the tree, reach up my man
Embrace the warmth of sunlight
And shelter those still bent with care
Amongst your spreading branches

And should you in your arrogance
Believe that you are sacrosanct
Remember that beneath the sky
We are but one world turning

 

Does it make me bigger
To make you smaller?
Does it make me good
To paint you bad?
Does it cleanse my blood
To spill so much of yours?
Does it make me right
To say you’re always wrong?

We stand side by side
As equals
We’re only humans
With both good and bad
Our hearts pump
A shared blood
The greatest right
Is to hold out our hand to those who do wrong

Would it make me smaller
To pull you to my level?
Would it make me bad
To see the good in you?
Would it taint my blood
To admit we are brothers
Would it make me wrong
To admit that you are right?

 

Piecing Together the Pieces for Peace
When all our fallen pieces are put together
Recognized as equally valuable
a part of the whole
Truly listen to each other
Respect understand
This is not one politican’s plan
Voices of the world speak
Say it loud
We want peace
Not what only benefits you or your political party
Stop being so narrow
As bodies pile up
So grows the sorrow
When everyone benefits yet shares the pain
Then there will be peace.

Some worship God in the temple.
Some worship God at the mosque.
When the mosque and the temple
share the same spot on the mountain
we can worship together or kill each other.
You may find God alone on a mountain
but others will find the mountain too.
Such is the nature of mountains.
Such is the nature of God.

 

Way To Peace!
The World is on Spin
Booting with the tough cycles
Ticking to disasters
Trimming the blessings of nature
Life cringing in despair
Hatred has entered our lives
Making it hopeless for all the life
Chipping in selfishness and bribe.
Let us lift the veil of gloom
Streaming to good fortune
Dancing under the misty moon
Spinning with harmony
Abstaining from gloom.

 

 

Mother Nature cries out in anguish
The blood of her children soaks into her
Brothers and sisters that came from her womb
Fight each other, kill each other
The differences that she gave us to be unique
Skin colour, religion, difference of opinions
The things that should make us our own shades of beautiful
Have become reasons for hate
Material for ammunition
Motivation for bombs
The thesis of twitter wars.

We’ve lost our minds to hate
We thrive on it
And love is a mere four letter word
And terrorist is a nine letter word
Words we throw around but don’t really understand
Our demonstration of humanity reduced to emojis and hashtags
Because it’s easier to type a few words than to say them out loud
It’s easier to stand up for injustice in our homes and bedrooms
It’s easier …..so we’ve become bystanders
We’ve forgotten that the only balm for our aching hearts is peace.
We’ve forgotten that love is peaceful
We’ve forgotten that we are brothers and sisters
We’ve forgotten …..so let us remember.

 

On battlefields and streets where ghosts have slept,
funeral homes where grieving mothers wept,
prematurely, the beating heart stilled.
No place for the faithless or weak willed.
From our lives loved ones are being swept.

The stigmata of promises not kept.
Conclusions to which fearful minds leapt.
By our ignorance we are being killed.
On battlefields and streets.

We cry out for justice for the ceased breaths.
Pointing fingers of blame, our spirits bereft.
Without understanding, hatred is distilled.
Contrary to our souls, born love filled.
Conflicted with ourselves, but there is hope yet.
On battlefields and streets.

 

 

Contributors:

1. M. Zane McClellan (https://thepoetrychannel.wordpress.com/)
2. Paul F. Lenzi ( https://poesypluspolemics.com/)
3. Dahlia Ibrahim (gainperspectiveblog.wordpress.com)
4. Tammy Mezera (https://tammymezera.wordpress.com)
5. Drew ( TheTattooedBookGeek.wordpress.com)
6. Anita Lubesh (writingasitcomes.wordpress.com)
7. Marie (writingwingsforyou.com)
8. Robert Okaji (robertokaji.wordpress.com)
9. wordplega (wordplega.wordpress.com)
10. Kim (zipsrid.wordpress.com)
11. Domestic diva (mobi41.wordpress.com)
12. flyingonemptythoughts.wordpress.com
13. Tremaine L. Loadholt (meetmsmindful.wordpress.com)
14. ndoyaspecial.wordpress.com
15. Morgan (booknvolume.wordpress.com)
16. Jocelyn (she-who-hears.net)
17. Candice Clarice (candiceclarice.wordpress.com)
18. gainperspectiveblog.wordpress.com
19. adarshakharel.wordpress.com
20. Hailie A. (diaryofasoulwriter.wordpress.com)
21. Pamela S. Canepa (pamelascanepa.wordpress.com)
22. Kevin Brown (kevbrownpoetry.wordpress.com)
23. Martha L Shaw (inlovewiththelord.wordpress.com)
24. madasahatter572.wordpress.com
25. drew5000g.wordpress.com
26. Sue (perpetualessence.wordpress.com)
27. Bridget Cook-Burch (https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/10154449245164374/)
28. Dorinda Duclos (dorindaduclos.wordpress.com)
29. Ria (https://kokoboocro.wordpress.com)
30. rbaldwin0204.wordpress.com
31. Kunal Thakore (randomrantsruminationsramblings.wordpress.com)
32. Aneesha (felinemusings,com)
33. Alok Gaur
34. Noopur (ascintillaofthoughts.wordpress.com)
35. Luke Otley (lukeotley.com)
36. Ranjeeta Nath Ghai (atrangizindagikasafar.wordpress.com)
37. Jenifer Cartland (5h2o.wordpress.com)
38. Mahima (https://beneaththedesolatesea.wordpress.com)
39. Justice&Humanity (https:hearknowevil.wordpress.com)
40. Neha (forgottenmeadows.wordpress.com)
41. Margaret Mair (https://mairimages.wordpress.com/)
42. Katerina Michouli (katerinamichouli.wordpress.com)
43. Don R. Meador
44. newgenerationverse.wordpress.com
45. M. Zane McClellan (https://thepoetrychannel.wordpress.com/)
46. sshicks.wordpress.com
47. sandyjwhite.wordpress.com
48. Ken G (rivrvlogr.wordpress.com)
49. Charles G (cgandyfiction.wordpress.com)
50. Stephanie Harper (slharperpoetry.wordpress.com)
51. notyet100 (notyet100hub.blogspot.com)
52. Lorien (yogamomdaily.wordpress.com)
53. Ismath (mychoice360.wordpress.com)
54. gravatar.com/fkregieblog
55. m lewis. redford (mlewisredford.wordpress.com)
56. Anoop (peopleandhearts.com)
57. aheartafire.wordpress.com
58. doc2poet.wordpress.com
59. mattboss77.wordpress.com
60. Valaine (nature-inspired-art.typepad.com)
61. Anthony (unitedbythree.wordpress.com)
62. Jessica Scott (lunaticpoet.comlunaticpoet.com)
63. writingnatural.wordpress.com
64. Kat Myrnman (kmmyrman.wordpress.com)
65. cheryl62blog.wordpress.com
66. Lizzie (summat2thinkon.wordpress.com)
67. coolestdwarfintheworld.wordpress.com
68. Kate (katehouck3.wordpress.com)
69. Brittany Brice (brittanybrice.wordpress.com)
70. Sarvesh Gaikwad (sarveshgaikwad.wordpress.com)
71. Kindra M.Austin (poemsandparagraphs.wordpress.com)
72. merrildsmith.wordpress.com
73. Heather Kohser 2016
74. Ila Varma (thoughtsuncovered.wordpress.com)
75. Dawn D (dawnsnight.wordpress.com)
76. Jane Dougherty (janedougherty.wordpress.com)
77. wandurwajr.wordpress.com
78. MDH ArtIsTry (https://mdrivinghawk00.wordpress.com)
79. Lorien (yogamomdaily.wordpress.com)
80. Lize Bard (wandererhaiku.wordpress.com)
81. Lize Bard (wandererhaiku.wordpress.com)
82. JP/dh (julesgemstonepages.wordpress.com
83. Lorien (yogamomdaily.wordpress.com)
84. Michael33 (visionofpoets.wordpress.com)
85. Michael (originaldante.wordpress.com)
86. mnicolerwildhood.com
87. Neha (forgottenmeadows.wordpress.com)
88. rbaldwin0204.wordpress.com
89. pviljoen.wordpress.com
90. Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja) Poetic Alchemy (Talking Blues) (poeturja.wordpress.com)
91. Victoria Young (victoriayoun.wordpress.com)
92. cepcarol (https://cepcarol.wordpress.com/)
93. Valaine (nature-inspired-art.typepad.com)
94. Andy N
95. jason.mizula001@umb.edu
96. Ila Varma (thoughtsuncovered.wordpress.com)
97. Robin (witlessdatingafterfifty.wordpress.com)
98. Rasma (yamarella.wordpress.com)
99. Carol (smoothsailing289.wordpress.com)
100. Judy Martin (edwinasepisodes.com)
101. DeanJean(zeldareville.wordpress.com)
102. Rose Heart (roseheartworldpress.wordpress.com)
103. Gilda Patricia (gildaspoems.wordpress.com)
104. Vertige de l’Oiseau (m2lblog.wordpress.com)
105. Jessi (cirquedelanuitblog.wordpress.com)
106. mysestina.wordpress.com
107. thefeatheredsleep.wordpress.com
108. Peter Notehelfer (notehelfer.wordpress.com)
109. Anita Lubesh (writingasitcomes.wordpress.com)
110. slpmartin.wordpress.com
111. Val Boyko (findyourmiddleground.com)
112. Colly (ckelbert.wordpress.com)
113. Frank Prem (frankprem.wordpress.com)
114. https://lionaroundwriting.com/2013/05/22/yes-sir/
115. EnglishLitGeek (englishlitgeek.wordpress.com)
116. huzaifazoom.wordpress.com
117. unauthoredtext.wordpress.com
118. khadhie.wordpress.com
119. Frank Prem (frankprem.wordpress.com)
120. sonderwriter.wordpress.com
121. Richard Ankers (richardankers.com)
122. Tammy Mezera (tammymezera.wordpress.com)
123. Lize Bard (https://wandererhaiku.wordpress.com/)
124. Paul F. Lenzi ( https://poesypluspolemics.com/)
125. Ashish Kumar (ashishvision.wordpress.com)
126. Brad (writingtofreedom.wordpress.com)
127. Amaya (myheartyourshelter.wordpress.com)
128. Skylark Hatee
129. Louise (fantasyraconteur.wordpress.com)
130. Dave Kavanagh (daithiocaomanaigh.com)
131. Al Smith (http://dataeterrata.blogspot.com/)
132. https://magicpoet01.wordpress.com/
133. Disha Ahluwalia (concealednotes.wordpress.com)
134. Erika Kind (erikakind.wordpress.com)
135. Colin Chappell (meandray.wordpress.com)
136. Gloria Delgado
137. Marie Lukasik-Wallace Wallace (https://writingwingsforyou.com)
138. Susie Perales
139. Colly (ckelbert.wordpress.com)
140. j matthew waters (jdubqca.com)
141. Christine Valentor (witchlike.wordpress.com)
142. Kunal Thakore (randomrantsruminationsramblings.wordpress.com)
143. jj walters (jjwaltersblog.wordpress.com)
144. Mike Evans (https://amikeevans.wordpress.com/)
145. Jonathan Noble (noblethemes.me)
146. Tamam Moncur
147. Sonja-Benskin-Mesher (sonja-benskin-mesher.com)
148. Frances Wiedenhoeft
149. Mark Andrew Heathcote
150. Mark Andrew Heathcote
151. Paul F. Lenzi ( https://poesypluspolemics.com/)
152. Mark Andrew Heathcote
153. Michael (originaldante.wordpress.com)
154. Neha (forgottenmeadows.wordpress.com)
155. rbaldwin0204.wordpress.com
156. Deborah E. Dayen (learningtolivelikewaterblog.wordpress.com)
157. Syedah Maryam Iqbal (writcrit.wordpress.com)
158. Mark Andrew Heathcote
159. Mark Andrew Heathcote
160. Mark Andrew Heathcote
161. Jennifer Nicole Wells (https://jennifernicholewells.com)
162. beckygblog.wordpress.com
163. Flavia(derelictheart.wordpress.com)
164. Crystalmay (crystalamay.wordpress.com)
165.  J.L Hunt (huntsclub@huntsclubhouse.com)
166. AshiAkira (ashiakira.wordpress.com)
167. A. Marie (larkspurhorne.net)
168. James McEwan (jplmcewan.wordpress.com)
169. nellycherry.wordpress.com
170. Mike (mjshorts.wordpress.com)
171. penumbrahaiku.wordpress.com
172. Debasis Mukhopadhyay(https://debasismukhopadhyay.wordpress.com/)
173. Kelly Bernice (kellybernice.wordpress.com)
174. Kelly Bernice (kellybernice.wordpress.com)
175. Marlyn Exconde (kintal.wordpress.com)
176. Qaiser ( http.//berekiblog.wordpress.com)
177.  Sylvester L. Anderson(syl65.wordpress.com)
178. Anita Lubesh (writingasitcomes.wordpress.com)
179. JoAnna (joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com)
180. Katrina Cain (thedarkestfairytale.wordpress.com)
181. dinamicdynasty.wordpress.com
182. Dhwani Sangani (https://sunnshhine.wordpress.com/)
183. Christa ( lovelyricism.wordpress.com )
184. Lorrie Bowden (LorrieBowden.com)
185. Veena Umesh Sood (https://recollectionsatfall.wordpress.com/)
186. Elsie (bowendiaries.com)
187. Janice (https://ontheland.wordpress.com)
188. Janice (https://ontheland.wordpress.com)
189. Audrey Dawn (http://www.oldestdaughterredheadedsister.com)
190. http://www.vequinox.wordpress.com
191. Pete Gardner (psalmistpetegardner.com)
192. Mark Andrew Heathcote
193. freyawrites.wordpress.com
194. Mairi (mairipoems.wordpress.com)
195. Brenda Baker (https://cyberneticblonde.com/)
196. Shreya Khetan (https://bewilderedhearts.wordpress.com/)
197. Olga (odaciuk.wordpress.com)
198. Annette Rochelle Aben (http://www.annetterochelleaben.wordpress.com)
199. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
200. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
201. notyet100hub.blogspot.com 
202. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
203. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
204. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
205. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
206. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
207. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
208. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
209. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
210. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
211. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
212. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
213. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
214. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
215. notyet100hub.blogspot.com
216. David Prosser (https://lorddavidprosser1.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/the-12-month-dream/)
217. Vera Bezuidenhout (https://verabez.wordpress.com/2016/08/18/little-children) 
218. Davida R. Chazan (drchazan.blogspot.com)
219. Jyotee (https://jyoteeblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/23/and-its-dark/)
220. BeckyG (beckygblog.wordpress.com)
221. LuAnne Holder (https://intentionalinterplay.wordpress.com/)
222. Ka Malana (fiestaestrella.wordpress.com)
223. Joan Leotta (joanleotta.wordpress.com)
224. aygoodnesslanre.blogspot. com
225. Neil Creighton
226. Neil Creighton
227. Neil Creighton
228. Neel Anil Panicker (neelwritesblog.wordpress.com)
229. Miriam (https://theshowersofblessing.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/conquer-with-love/)
230. Kate Blake (https://arousedblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/displaced/)
231. Rowena Curtin (https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com)
232. Judy Martin (http://www.edwinasepisodes.com/)
233. Eugenia (Franci Hoffman) ( https://amanpan.com/2016/08/19/our-world-to-keep/)
234. Kate Blake ( https://arousedblog.wordpress.com/)
235. webthewords.wordpress.com
236. Ariana Nelson (ariananelson.wordpress.com)
237. randomthoughtsofmine2016.wordpress.com
238. jstreetpoet (jamescfloyd.wordpress.com)
239. jstreetpoet (jamescfloyd.wordpress.com)
240. Sue Ranscht (stranschtdotcom.wordpress.com)
241.  Tammy Mezera(tammymezera.wordpress.com)
242. Tina Glover (unknownperson79.wordpress.com)
243.  Ali Grimshaw
244. Sue Vincent ( https://scvincent.com/)
245. Carolina Russo (yesterdayafter.wordpress.com)
246. Paul F. Lenzi ( https://poesypluspolemics.com/)
247. https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/2016/07/21/hopepoetsforpeace/
248. shanjeniah.wordpress.com
249. TJ Paris,  (https://amaviedecoeurentier.wordpress.com)
250. TJ Paris, (https://amaviedecoeurentier.wordpress.com)
251. Trent P McDonald (trentsworldblog.wordpress.com)
252. Blair Gaulton (bjgaulton.wordpress.com)
253. Phillip T Stephens (ptstephens.com)
254. Ila Varma 31-08-2016 (thoughtsuncovered.wordpress.com)
255. Christabell King (ladymiaou.wordpress.com)
256. M. Zane McClellan (https://thepoetrychannel.wordpress.com/)