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Thread: War; the March challenge.

  1. #1
    Mentor Olly Buckle's Avatar
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    War; the March challenge.

    Our winner in the poetry challenge this month was Baron, as you may have guessed from the poll results, I have received this message from the winner.

    “with the agreement of my lady, who was placed second, I'm giving the "laureate" title and the month FoWF membership to Apple.

    I'm suggesting "war" as a theme for the next challenge”

    Congratulations to Baron, and thanks for our new theme, I am looking forward to a variety from Tennyson to Owen.

    Your entries on the theme of War please

    Please post only your entries in this thread, comments, congratulations etc. should be posted in the Bard’s bistro or the poll thread. This challenge will be open for two weeks, or until I get up on Sat. the 12th March as it is a bit late now and we are poets and not very precise, (except with words)
    A Read for the Train, a collection of short stories, flash fiction and verse. Its cheaper on Lulu, 25% discount.
    http://www.lulu.com/shop/oliver-buck...-18812406.html

  2. #2
    FoWF Jinxi's Avatar
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    Doc

    Shivering
    Starving
    Quiet
    Except for the occasional grenade that goes off in the distance

    Trenches
    Snow
    Forest
    Seeing nothing in front of me due to the heavy mist

    Memories
    Images
    Tears
    For the French girl that I met in the hospital in Bastogne

    Looking around at the few men who have managed to live through this
    Knowing that this may be the last time I see them
    Be it from the Germans who we know are waiting just through those trees
    Or from the intense cold that is eating through our bones

    The supplies were supposed to arrive today
    But we received word that they are not coming at all
    We do not have enough food, warm clothing or ammunition
    To make it through another day

    There is an uneasy feeling within the men
    We can hear the German’s chatter from beyond the trees
    It is so difficult to stay aware
    A cold pain is consuming me

    These men have come so far
    Fought many battles and survived
    Now they may die, not from a bullet
    From hunger or hyperthermia

    I walked around the trenches today
    Trying to help those who seemed to be battling
    I gave my ration of soup to a young man who must have been little of 18 years old
    My shoes were in better condition, so I gave those to him too

    Some of the men are pacing
    Trying to keep a blood flow to their feet
    The sky is a deep grey
    Nature is completely still

    I hear a faint whistle-like sound in the air
    Followed by a massive crash
    I see a comrade of mine battling flames that are lapping at his uniform
    Another man lying on the ground, both legs severed from the blast

    The Germans have no pity
    Bomb after bomb
    Shattering our safety
    Dismembering us

    I am the Medic
    I hear men screaming my name over the constant bombings
    I want to run, hide
    Where I no longer have the responsibility of saving men with no hope

    I have nothing
    No morphine, no bandages, no scissors
    I am wrapping wounds with old food sacks
    And giving alcohol to ease the pain

    I have no way of cleaning the wounds
    If they do not die now
    They will later from infections
    I am the Medic, and I can do nothing to save them

    We have been fighting for years
    Struggled through so many battles
    We have finally reached a point where victory is within reach
    But our own army cannot send us the supplies we desperately need

    I am the Medic
    I have saved so many men
    I have nothing anymore
    I want to go home

  3. #3
    Apprentice
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    War
    War is the bitterest experience we can face
    It destroys without distinguishing between creed and race.
    War is a bomb which explodes suddenly.
    We can not predict its time accurately
    War is a fire which glows strongly
    It kills people and burns them quickly.
    War is a big and massive disaster.
    It leaves us destroyable nuclear cluster.
    War is a force pushing us to unknown future.
    It is like a very strong butcher
    War is killing, destroying and damaging
    It is burning, firing and bitter experiencing
    We hope peace would be found last.
    We wish it in the future, present and past.

  4. #4
    WF Veteran Nick's Avatar
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    Trenches and Sandcastles


    It’s time for the big push, father.
    There’s a fear in your eyes,
    for what might lie over the top.
    We have to run there now,
    clad in jeans and shifting styles;
    piercings shining on me, then fading,
    worry burying itself in your face.
    Memories of the road crossing,
    cars roaring at my kitten’s face.
    Hand in trusting hand,
    you helped me pass the danger.
    These guns are plastic toys,
    from days at the park.
    These trenches are deep for
    sandcastles in Spain.
    These enemies are
    memories before they come.
    We can’t look back, soldier,
    when we hit that new soil,
    but I can promise you
    that my hand will be there,
    guiding you in mirror irony.
    We’ll cross at the lights together.

  5. #5
    Mentor Squalid Glass's Avatar
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    Cross Lines
    (after Arlington)

    I saw a stilted, little girl
    standing against a post.
    She had ashy teeth
    beneath bent lips.
    Her eyes were like old doors –
    faded and worn.

    Her dress was squalid,
    her lock was picked.

    I wanted to call to her
    or tell her to run,
    but my face was sandpaper
    and she’d be scared.

    Sometime later,
    white marble is lowered
    draped in red, blue and white silk.
    A soldier salutes – guns fire,
    synchronized in sound and flight.
    Poets are always taking the weather so personally. They're always sticking their emotions in things that have no emotions.

    Check out my new blog, complete with new poetry! - http://www.writingforums.com/blogs/squalid-glass/

  6. #6
    Captain Baron's Avatar
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    Resonating Sounds




    Resonating sounds,
    like distant peals of thunder, roar;
    group memory shapes the world view -
    molds the vision of a generation,
    helpless to imagine there can be
    a final end to war.

    Nobody who’s living for the Day…
    None really learn the lessons
    while the bloodshed colours all
    those yesterdays.

    Hanging heads and wringing hands
    will cling to any thread of hope,
    while everything around descends
    into decay.

    Where none have given
    peace a chance;
    believing jaded promises
    from politicians of despair;
    who lead a foolish flock
    to join a final cosmic dance.

    People in the streets gyrate and prance
    in passive rhythm to the beat;
    the fiery reign pours down
    to brand the saturated ground,
    accompanied by a backbeat
    driven...

    by those resonating sounds.

  7. #7
    Banned Martin's Avatar
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    What for?

    Red tears run from your body,
    soldier.
    Remember what brought you here
    the visions, the future.
    Get up!
    The whistling air, too heavy for many
    still veils a path.
    Think,
    while God hammers his piano
    melody planned, stave after stave.
    Move,
    away, act -
    throw that grenade before it explodes,
    that spear before it sheds more tears,
    sling the holy rock,
    that point of view -
    fight
    for what it's worth, until

  8. #8
    Scrivener
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    Circle of Death

    An infant, besieged by a dire life,
    Is cast into unlawful strife.
    No course, no plan,
    Led, only, by his mother’s hand.
    Now, a youth, confused, he is taught to hate,
    By men who warn of his mother’s fate.
    Into a crowd he suddenly appears,
    The screams are real, many shed tears.
    Lives cut short, potential is gone,
    It only cost a single pawn.
    An infant, besieged by a dire life,
    Is cast into unlawful strife.

  9. #9
    Administrator
    Gumby's Avatar
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    The Viral Revolution

    Shades of anarchistic arson strike
    the matches of despair-
    to the human tinderbox: the haves,
    the have nots.

    Co-opted movement,
    paint a face upon the masses,
    and throw your voice to speak
    for those left speechless-

    being led by the No's of those
    who dropped the Radical Pose,
    for the radical end of life,
    as we know it.

  10. #10
    WF Veteran TheFuhrer02's Avatar
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    The Fifth Trumpet

    There I stood amidst the howls and cries
    of women and children in despair
    as the stars came falling from the skies
    left not a single life to be spared

    Then I heard above a trumpet sound
    that roared across the blackened heavens
    and this made strong quakes beneath the ground
    that made me ran for a safe haven

    The ground trembled and lo, it opened
    from it came out a horde of locusts
    and ominously did they ascend
    that seemed to destroy, they were focused

    And so these locusts of steel flew out
    with their spinning tails loudly roaring
    they flew towards the foe’s strong redoubt
    and attacked it with flames from their wings

    The foe responded with their own force
    as they produced metallic scorpions
    with speeds that could match that of a horse
    and stings that shot unknown munitions

    And then the two massive forces clashed
    with their weapons firing at full blast
    catapults, cavalry – lo, they dashed
    onwards their foes with weapons at mast

    I saw the battle slowly unfold
    and the land that was first plain, barren
    was now ridden with chaos untold
    that sent the land burning and ashen
    You don't stop playing because you're getting old; you get old because you stop playing.
    - Doyle Brunson


    @Kriegskanzler | Kanzler's Tales | Motley Press

  11. #11
    Author at Large MJ Preston's Avatar
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    The Sergeants Prayer

    Hello God
    Are you there?
    Did you weep like me?
    We sent you many today.

    Are you listening God?
    Did you see them fall?
    Did they march your way.
    We gave you much this day.

    Oh God forgive my slight
    I know they're all your children
    But they are my brothers
    and we lost so many today

    Are you still listening God?
    I need your help for I'm afraid
    I lead these soldiers and...

    Hello God..
    Visit my website MJ Preston - The Equinox



  12. #12
    Freedom Writer Lady S's Avatar
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    Answers

    Artist, poet,
    minstrel balladeer,
    feed my eyes with romance;

    tickle my ears
    with words of glory

    and tales of hungry years.

    I search for answers.

    Children starved

    while haggard women bled;
    a crimson stain laid waste

    to leave so many dead;
    in grief I still remember

    all those histories I read…

    which held no answer.

    With cries of “freedom”

    many are maimed;
    brainwashed,

    they believe in the patriot game,
    they speak of injustice

    then dish out the same…

    they have no answer.

    A woman alone

    giving comfort to mourners,
    speaks of a peace

    which waits just round the corner;
    whispers a prayer

    for those dark souls who scorn her;

    she sees an answer.


    I gaze at my face

    in the mirror on my wall;
    part of the problem

    if I heed the battle call;
    this generation can end it all…

    a double edged answer.



    spiorad saor in aisce

  13. #13
    Scrivener Boddaert's Avatar
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    THROW ANOTHER BONE ON THE PILE

    i
    In countries where the mad-dogs play,
    Disturbed by that exiling leer,
    The sheep wait quietly, talking low,
    Triangulated by their fear.

    Retribution cased in lead,
    In countries where the mad-dogs play,
    Creating sickly, fetid smells,
    That’s whirl and cling thro' night and day.

    As from a building, half destroyed,
    A doctor drops, on growing pile,
    In countries where the mad-dogs play,
    A small child's leg, a father's smile.

    Dislodged, a hand slides slowly down,
    Caressing gently on the way,
    The now dead heir, a once loved son,
    In countries where the mad-dogs play.

    ii
    In countries where the mad-dogs play,
    As bombs rain down, black mindless flies,
    The unwashed corpses rot away,
    Beneath the calm but leaden skies.

    Great tides of people swirl in fear,
    In countries where the mad-dogs play,
    The Ethnic Cleansings reached a point,
    Where no one's left to clean away.

    And I: what aid; what deed; what thought?
    While children burn and parents die?
    In countries where the mad-dogs play,
    What answers give to their last cry?

    I cannot touch these displaced souls,
    Their suffering is too far away,
    Far better try to touch the sun,
    In countries where the mad-dogs play.

  14. #14
    Mentor Olly Buckle's Avatar
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    Limerick;

    The warp falls out with the weft
    And that leaves someone bereft
    When all’s said and done
    There was only one won
    And he wasn’t whose right but whose left.
    A Read for the Train, a collection of short stories, flash fiction and verse. Its cheaper on Lulu, 25% discount.
    http://www.lulu.com/shop/oliver-buck...-18812406.html

  15. #15
    Prolific Writer bearycool's Avatar
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    The delegations
    the congregations.

    who?

    But only the masses, yes
    just that.

    I, no... I am
    not a I am;
    but just a We.
    a we are...

    For when the fires sweep
    and out goes the light.
    its dust, in ashen heavens
    forever now.

    The un-diaphnous lining beyond
    brings the clouds;
    for they are crying.

    weeping.

    but they don't bring down
    life giving waters,
    but Acid Raid. For our
    pollution, our struggles, inherited
    inside these droplets.

    And when ends come to ends
    and we come back to light.

    it is a light that has paled
    to red.
    Our Home, is no more.

    We have fought for nothing!

    and all is quiet on the homebound front...
    And I, or we, look to see
    in a transluent reflection
    from time and time.

    All we see is the devil;
    for we are the devil.

    Who(m) was that being
    swept up in the storm,
    not so long ago?
    the child,
    the pastor,
    the widow,
    the baker,
    or the enemy?
    or were They also the enemy?

    The delegations
    the congregations.
    they are not real.

    just the masses,
    just a we are

    just the devil.
    I am the devil,
    therefore we are the devil...
    and, therefore, the world is hell.

    ad infinitum inferno.

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