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on Ukraine
It was a week after the Bataclan battleYoung people from Paris in EvreuxEscaping the shock waves of griefTalking of the end of the worldRealising the conversation was about the end of humanityIdentifying that nature will persistKeeping faith that this Blue Planet will keep spinningUnderstanding that it is us who will passLeaving our stainIn fossilised citiesRailway →
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on Ukraine
in the alcove of an abandoned shoplaid out in dishevelled dreamson top of improvised beddingdesperate for sleepclutched by each otherdesperate for sleeptattered, battered, torndesperate for sleepas the upright peopleturn out from the last trainfrom theatres, barsthe queues for clubsanother police siren cuts into the drunken chatteringdesperate for sleepa gaggle of othersliving closeto the lip of →
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on Ukraine
“…too many people.”is there a number that’s acceptable?what are the limits forcollateral damage?not just thembut your people too?have the sirens deafened you to the cries of the mourning mothers?how high must the river of tears risebefore the dam breaksand you are swept away by the flood?~n.b. The USA President is cross that his friend in →
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on peace (iv)
as the big man blusters along Main StreetBoot Hill is filling with famished bodiespeople get caught in mass casualty eventswhile scavenging for scrapsin the middle of a shoot outpeople herded off the landwhere settlerswith military backupstake claims on turfdescribed in ancient texts as promisedthe law of this landleans to ancient scribblersthrough written judgementoral history, nomadic →
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on peace (iii)
after laying down the lawthe big guy left the saloonand as soon as he’d gonethe brawl reignitedDon’t make me come back in there!his voice boomed through the swing doorsa final sly digWhat could I do? I was in mid-swing!the little guy protested(yes, that little guythe one bulked up by steroids, protein drinks and armed to →
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at the gymnasium
WOW! Look at those gunsWhen you gonna use them, boy?I mean, what’s the point?~n.b. Too much power, too big an arsenal, too many guns, aircraft carriers, tanks, fighter jets, bombers, drones, missiles. They were never going to just sit in a shed. Old men with nothing to lose…how does this happen? CLP 17/06/2025 →
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on Ukraine
In 1948, Steinbeck in A Russian Journal wrote of the Ukrainian people:They spoke anxiously of war, they had so much of it.Our towns are destroyed alreadywhat more can it do?We will defend ourselvesin the snowand in the forestsand in the fieldsWhat was a moment in historyis now a way of lifeWhat is the prizethese invaders →
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on Ukraine
Punch, counter-punchStab, thrust, bombAll the mothers knowLottery of life and deathHolds them at knife-pointIs this the final dice rollOr just another false dawnA fake news dayEdging then along until they hearThe boy’s key in the lockOr the postie’s fateful knock~ n.b. And so it goes on, more vicious by the day, more so by night. →
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on May
it is a long monthwe have enjoyed warmer daysbut now pray for rainto Europe’s east warWe need human resourcesnot just munitionsnowhere is safe nowKyiv is attacked day and nightonly the dead restin the Holy Landa new testament writtenin blood of childrenthe wringing of handsringing of cash registersversus body-countnow The Genocideassumes a new currencycafé talk topictelevision →
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on Ukraine
What day is it?Does it matter?It’s raining bombsWhen the children are playingWhen the churches are openIs anyone still watching?Talk is cheapLives are cheapWhen money stalksThe Land of The FreeKyiv can’t buy a break~ CLP 25/05/2025 →
Journey of Words 