What leaf blown day did I arrive
to speak in a strangers voice?
a soul dressed in skin and bone
a raggety spirit of too many nights
spent singing to the Moon ?
this shared endeavour of poetry?

War is not a movie
but we make such a scene
dark gun metal monster machines
It’s a pattern of pitter patter
gun thunder shatters
all life and silence
leaving it destroyed
by your war toy madness

Battle ready vest
clings heavy to your chest
tanks clink and clank
from shrapnel and landmines
blowing more than just
your tired mind

megaton drop down
soldiers hit the ground
like tiny nuclear explosions
a mad marine invasion
propaganda says
we are there to save
and help them build a nation

In moments of rest
they pray to themselves
in battlefield dress
they beg to be
heaven blessed
for the god and country
they love best

we are lucky if one bad day
takes us to the next one
then we hit the worse one
bullet storms splatter
all that brain matter
face disfigured
sends dark cold shivers
while dead children
bleed red rivers

The military man
hands momma a flag
but that respect
won’t bring her baby back
stories over fade to black

I got nothing better to give
no better angels in my soul.
Darkness is coming again.
It is a poker hand I was never going to win.
My heart sounds off beating
Thud da dud dud.

They stacked the deck and turned on the furnace
laid back and got ready to burn us
watching the ashes as they floated up
to dark thunder clouds.

Lightning flashes thud da dud dud
coursing through my burning blood.
Soldiers step on me,
while military boots stomp, splashing mud.
I hear them marching thud da dud dud.

In resisting despair’s darkest edges
I coopt that painful beat.
Strangers hear me singing thud da dud dud,
Till, I rest permanently in my defeat.

The man who gave most of his life
working so many early mornings and late nights
gets fired for being too **** nice
should get more than a piece of paper
saying we will not see you later
and don’t even bother coming around here again
should get at least an I am sorry friend
instead of a slip demanding his resignation

The hungry child with a dry scabbed and bulging busted lip
should get at least a silent sorry
from the one who did it
but the bully will not repent or even admit it

A broken building busted in by American bombing
should get at least some sort of silent sorry
Some sort of repented remorse
instead of politicians going hoarse
demanding more and more war

Sometimes all we need
is silence in our head
and the sound of rain

Scream for me
As I work your flesh
Doggedly
Challenging
The brands
That were burnt in
Your young skin
Reshaping
The essence
That once suffered
Such pestilence
In the face of
Other people’s opulence

Though you beg and plead
On bended knees
Seeking to stay
In such deep shadows
I will pull you out
From the wreckage
Offer you Eve’s apple
Give you knowledge
And wisdom
Give you a brand new kingdom
And though others name me devil
You will come to call me
Your guardian angel

You embrace a dark character
and call it my flaw.
Demons in your eyes,
I cannot tell
if you are telling lies,
if you realize what madness you spread,
or have the worms
burrowed so deep into your head
that you truly believe
such severely stupid things.

America the wolf
Wearing the red stains
Of other people’s pain
Pumping profits from war
Instead the pleasures of peace
Creating false unity
As your fangs shred
The innocent
still resting in their bed
Children now dead
Play their songs in my head
Instead of cursing you
Who committed such crimes
They condemn me
For wasting my time

I should have killed the wolf
But it will be the death of me
Even if I am a wily coyote

Listen to America? by graff1980 #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/graff1980/america

I can only resist
for so long
challenge that which is
so strong
before my mind breaks
and age takes
what makes
all resistors great.

I can only be an insurgent
casting shadows of love
instead of waging raging
battles of blood
for so long before I am all gone.

Right or wrong but mostly right,
I can only fight this lonely fight
before the light fades
and I say goodbye to my
better days

I am a sick *******
Sweet friend
Emotion fiend
Seeking stories
Wanting your
gorgeous pain
To hold
To harbor
The albatross
At the arbor
Flying to the dying ship
That weight around your neck
That anchors you to ****
That razor blade
You want to use to cut it
I am a vampire of sorrows
******* up injustice
Then spitting these flitting verses
Back out like sputum
So others can use them
To make us all more human
Though my wrists cramp with heartbreaks
I still write at night by lampshade
Sipping small vials of nightshade
Hoping to take your pain away
And plant posies with all that poison

We walk alone
unweaving the believing
wavering fools
who play tools
to master makers
those money takers
pious fakers.

We walk the road
of learned truths,
pursuing those who
inspire us to do
better.

We walk alone
but sometimes
paths converge.
Parallel voices are heard.
The pain recedes.
Hope no longer retreats
and we are free
to be temporarily
together.

We walk alone
and that is how we die.
No matter how hard we try,
even when we fly
we fall down
to the ground
flaming comet crashing
crushing the crust
and cutting deeper.

Thus departs
the hearts of seekers
walking all alone
especially into their own
dark death.

A flag does not deserve allegiance.
It is only a symbol woven in cloth.
It does represent truth or justice
but the expanding providence
Of undue influence;

Mind controlled population
subservience
to the country you were born in
by chance.

Though it may be pretty
flapping in the wind
it is not a worthy friend
to any woman or man.
It is merely a symbol
waving for the those
who cannot understand
life is more complicated
than their flag lets on.