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In dusty fields of summer’s end,
Ancient fallow place from time,
Once was myth it did begin…
In writing, trade, language, rhyme.
Traditional rhyme
Joel Hayward Apr 2016
A Child
Caught a thing
Meant for another
It flew yet wasn’t a bird
It whistled
She never heard

It tore her dress
Of blue cotton
And seven lives
Which must wait
Until Paradise
To be mended
Joel Hayward Apr 2016
My house is a hole

I hold a photograph
and cry for you

How can I live
alone?

My house is a hole

I climb in to search
and find fragments

I hold your hand
which seeps
James Walker Mar 2016
Society and Flaw
Surely lie hand and hand
The pencil and the paper
Given to untrue man
The government corrupt, society can't see
A slave to politician, is all we'll ever be
Trained that right was right
When right was truly wrong
These thoughts instilled within us
To keep politic strong
A song was sang to lure us
Into the wicked sea
Of lies and deception, the truth can never be
Weak family, strong state
It's what's right, control their fate
Pointless electives in the college
Surely to keep us within *******
A scheme of money plain in sight
But still found hard to see
A slave to politician, is all we'll ever be
Freedom of speech is without reach
Cuz speak and you'll be found
Floating in a river, sure to be face down
Never thinking for self, always for the man
The man holds the paper, and so he's cuffed your hand
Bound to the flaws of which we cannot see
A slave to politician, is all we'll ever be
Last of my poems from 2010. Last of my poems on the war
James Walker Mar 2016
Oil
Oil, oil, black as night
Tonight we stand tonight we fight
You say it's yours but we don't care
Give us oil, that's what's fair!
War we bring cuz war we want
Missiles will sing a tyrants haunt
Flag of glory tonight made gory
Bodies will die, that's our story!
Fury ignites, revenge takes flight
Bomb us again you never will!
Tonight we come in, for the ****
Yeah we america, we so real!
We got all the oil, We can steal!
It's ours, now can we end this war?
Or will money forever make us a *****...
On the war in Iraq. 2010, age 16
James Walker Mar 2016
Boom, boom
Explosions sound
A birds around
Dropping pellets
Running screaming, the people say
Please stop dropping, for just today
Prayer unanswered, crops destroyed
Beauty now rendered, a lifeless void
Pilot smiles, his job well done
Onto the next town, he found it fun
Medals and glory await his return
All he has to do, is make people burn
Cry and scream, the good it will do
Bird drops the pellets, gone are you
Simple command, life in hand
They say to stand but we can't fight
Bird chooses death and bird is right
All for the money.....is that not tight?
Another from 2010. 16 and angry at the war, this was my voice against it
Shay Dec 2015
War
Explosions and gunfire wherever you walk,
not knowing your fate as the hands whirl around the clock.
Blood running like a river through the streets of rubble,
body parts scattered around - each one of them has crumbled.

They've declared a war again like many times before,
not caring about the civilians; battle commences more and more.
History is repeating itself time and time again,
it seems as if they cannot from bloodlust abstain.

This is about the innocent lives that'll be inevitably lost,
their precious and innocent souls are the greatest cost.
Their last memories will be that of brutality and threat,
and watching their family die randomly one by one; like a game of Russian Roulette.

Masses of skeletons and piles of bones
will litter the lanes as common as stones,
and their names will always remain unknown,
and as they perish they will do so despondent and alone.
Phoenix Nov 2015
A letter to The Child Whose Life I Shaped

I pulled that trigger.
I loaded the bullet that changed your life.
Did I think?
No.
I was purely trying to save my own life.
No.
I don’t know where your doll is.
No.
I can’t help your dad.
No.
I can’t get you out of that dark room.
I am so sorry.
I mean,
sorry won’t bring back your doll.
Sorry won’t take that missile off course.
Sorry won’t make the men stop “visiting.”
Sorry won’t do a **** thing,
I can never take back my actions.
I know that I broke you.
I flipped your life upside down and turned it inside out.
I don’t know your name.
I don’t know your favorite color.
If I could go back,
and get to know you,
your favorite food and how old you are,
maybe I would have laid my life down for you.
It is too late to do that.
Too late to save your parents.
And your doll.
And your childhood purity.
No.
I didn’t know.
I didn’t know that I was shaping your life.
No.
I just didn’t want to know.
Didn’t want to think about it.

Sincerely,
The Man Who Drastically Changed Your life
A response to A letter to the man who gave me this life, written from the perspective of a soldier.
Phoenix Nov 2015
A letter to the man who gave me this life

Did you know,
when you pulled the trigger,
that that bullet would give me a new life?
Did you even know my name?
I am Maryam.
I am Dima.
I am Agnes.
I am Charles.
I am 6 million kids affected by you.
Do you know where my doll is?
She is the only one who wouldn’t leave,
if she were here.
I left her at home,
have you bombed my house yet?
Please!
I am only 11.
I am only 10.
I am only 12.
I am only 16.
I am only a child.
Just a child.
Can you help my daddy?
He only got out of the car for a minute,
when there was a loud bang.
In the quiet,
all I could see were my daddy’s boots.
His face was so white,
his hands getting colder.
He is staring at me without seeing me.
God!
He is dead!
Why would you do this?
These shots,
they haunt my dreams.
When you pulled the trigger,
did you know that I would jump--
by simple sound of a door closing?
I was planting pumpkins.
We were going to make pie.
But now, I am starving.
Stuck in a dark room.
The men come in,
I don’t understand…
Why?!?!
I am only a small girl.
I am only a small boy.
You make fear burn,
as passionately as love once did.

Love,
The Child With No Parents (Thanks)
Written from the perspective of a child in Iraq
Homunculus Oct 2015
Learn to recognize lies, while they stand at
Their podiums, and proselytize,
Like so many Sunday preachers,
You can see it in their eyes, and
Their shifty ****** features, though
Their words seem sincere,
Their subtle cues, serve as
Teachers of their inner intent, so
Don't forget your diligence, and
Let them **** your dissent, with
Empty promises and rhetoric, to
Fill your head with lies about,
How war is for the betterment, of
Nations abroad, the sentiment
Is laughable, the premise is a fraud.
Cause when it all boils down, and
When push comes to shove,
Democracy has grass roots, it's
Not imposed from above, and
At the end of the day, money is
The factor prime, it's the secret
Justifier for this terroristic crime,
First, they bombed Iraqi cities,
In a trial of "Shock and Awe"
That killed even more civilians,
Than what 9/11 saw, and
Once the cities were demolished,
Halliburton then rebuilt them, and
Reaped enormous profits,
To the tune of 40 billion, and
Among other things, in this
"Just" war's spoils, were
The underground oceans,
Flowing full of crude oil, and
We all fund these atrocities,
These lies, these hypocrisies, well
If you decide this ain't the type,
Of thing that you can stand for,
Write "exempt" on line 7, of your W-4
Aside from the W-4 approach, you can also refuse a token amount of any monetary sum on tax form 1040, be it $5 as a symbolic gesture, or a larger amount equivalent to the share of income tax that funds defense/military . Note that if you actually do this, the IRS will try to retaliate. Don't let them intimidate you, people are rarely arrested for low profile tax offenses. There is an establishment called the "War Resisters League" that has been active in the States for over half a century. Their website is an excellent resource for strategies and  guidelines for those whose consciences will no longer allow them to be complicit with this sort of behavior. Please consider this, and spread the message far and wide. If enough people did this on a given year, it would make a powerful statement.
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