Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts

IRAQ WAR (2003-Present): "Little Boys Were Sent to Fight," by Yvette Analla


From conniving tongues, lies were flung
to pave the way for war.
Little boys were sent to fight
to return again no more.

He used a country’s broken heart
to mastermind the plan.
He kindled their very real fear
all across the land.

In ancient far off cities
different lies were told
lines were drawn upon the sand
and prophecies were told.

A child lost his father,
a mother’s lost her son
thousands of times over
since the war begun.

Our infrastructure is crumbling
beneath the weight of debt.
Families living on the street
more not less the threat.

Five years ago it began,
with the invasion of Iraq.
Though many of us wish we could,
we cannot take it back.

This infant country is so great
so expansive is our power.
yet we cannot make it right
twice burning of the tower.

Revenge is not an option
without the doer of the deed.
Does anybody feel better
watching those that didn’t bleed?

In six years soldiers will be scarce
and my children will be of age
will they be told they must bear arms
in this dirty war you wage?

I will never dig my child’s grave
because they fought a war
that lined the pockets of those oil men
whose kids stayed safely on our shore.

__________________________

(Today is the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq.)

(Art work copyright by the webmaster)

VIETNAM WAR: Eulogy for a Stranger (a Poem)




(Apologies to Captain John W. Consolvo, Jr.)


Dear John,

My vision:

You were not an only love.

After mourning, She

Dug a hole

And loaded herself

With another man's seed.

Now another man's fruit

Joins ROTC.

*

That year:

My war raged with a love-

Child, conceived

On the tail of Purple Haze.

We rolled nickels

All through the fight;

Your blood arced,

Gushing.

You were not real then,

Just a nameless G.I.,

Wasted in the jungle:

*

Conned.

We were conned into thinking

The War would be solved by Christmas.

Oh, you never knew, of course;

You would never know.

But the steel part of me

Tells me all I need to know:

USMC 07 MAY 72 SVN VA

Engraved

Your name

Here.

_____________________________

(NOTE: I have worn Captain Consolvo’s MIA bracelet since 1991. I never knew him in life, but he lives in my heart.)

Captain John W. Consolvo, Jr. Links:

A Tribute to Capt. John W. Consolvo, USMC

Arlington National Cemetery Website

Consolvo, John Wadsworth, Jr. "Jack"

Capt. Consolvo's Mother Speaks of Hope