lies, **** lies and statistics
they used to say ...... but

now it's lies, **** lies, president and his cronies
social media barons and propaganda
alternative truths normalised

trust lies on its death-bed
poisoned
sacrificed for power

alternatively ........

walk down the passageway
journey into darkling gloom
accompanied by names
slowly read, persistent
insistent with each step
another and another
and always one more
a hundred, a thousand
tens of thousands
and still the names roll on
into the dark for days, weeks
turn a corner into the black
enter the glass labyrinth
surrounded by pin-***** lights
by the hundred, by the thousand
by the myriads of thousands
five small flames
reflected and reflecting
and reflected ever more
in remembrance
of the children

a million and a half
shot, starved, gassed, burnt
the diabolical villainy
the evil of the camps
of the planners and designers
of the builders and profiteers
of the guards and politicians
and of those who looked away
and still the names roll on
insistent and persistent
into the dark for days, weeks
a hundred, a thousand
tens of thousands
hundreds of thousands
the children
dead

walk down pathways
into the **** zones
of kibbutz and concert field
to burial grounds and memorials
or between the piles of rubble
once houses and flats
shops and mosques
hospitals and schools
now carrying the stench
of death, the un-buried
beneath shattered concrete
by the hundred, the thousand
though not yet the million
no-one reading their names
no memorial disturbingly peaceful
but still it's the children
their deaths, each death
an evil chosen, consummated
by the planners and strategists
by the zealots and profiteers
by the military and politicians
and by those who look away
the children
always the children
forever the children
dead

holocausts
each and every one
of humanity
of hope

they've taken their land
or at least most of it
their homes and farms
businesses and communities
they control their water
their borders, their rights
deemed them a non-people
they aren't Palestinian, they say
and Palestine is not their home
never has been, not legitimately
so say their usurpers
hiding behind their legal fictions
with judicial expropriation
and apartheid-like laws
waging their hundred year war
of slow, steady ethnic cleansing
following the Joshua model
the curse of destruction
by armed settler land grabs
bomb and armoured bulldozer
supported, encouraged and funded
by allies across the world

ignored are the peacemakers
foundering are reconcilers' hopes
parched, those who hunger
and thirst for saving justice
shredded by propaganda
bombed into submission
swamped by a sea of indifference
the wrong side of history
politically dispensable, disposable
it's open season ........

slowly they make their way
to rubble piles they once called home
passing graves marked and unmarked
tens of thousands, numbers mounting
plus those uncounted 'neath the stones

slowly they make their way
those held hostage, long imprisoned
freedom restored and families renewed
past shrines to the dead and missing
hundreds by name and photo known

conflict on hold, maybe
hundred year war and more, on pause
mediation notwithstanding
battle for twice claimed land's too fierce
for hatred's cauldron, what hope peace?

chance that diff'rent vision
might disrupt war's propaganda?
work for peaceful coexistence
disarm ethnic cleansing's purpose
in this unholy Holy Land?

indisputably elected
with his proven track record
according to the courts
of criminality and lies
and clear from his own words
a confessed ****** predator
while evidenced by his deeds
power pursued and abused
yet elected nonetheless
an unchallengable right to act
however illegal for others
by judges made sacrosanct

"we hold these truths to be self-evident
that all men are created equal ....... '
though some more equal than others

'God bless America', a fading hope
America dominated by power, undoubtedly
but at whose expense, the question?

while writing in this form demands control
to squeeze ideas within its metric frame
as rhyme and rhythm work to make the whole
concocting words with fiercely burning flame
to touch the heart and so the soul reclaim
from this dour world with all its cant and show
and raise such peace and joy with hope proclaim
so gaining traction transformations flow
that shape afresh to lift above our earthly woe

celebrations in the street
the possibility of one small step
in the vague direction
well not of peace
but of ending the hot war
of the active shooting
the bombs, the missiles
the utter destruction
and holding of hostages
a ceasefire

....... maybe

maybe if what's been agreed holds
maybe if the killing stops
if the hostages are released
if the soldiers pull out
if the obliteration ends
if there is security from attack
if there is land justice
if rebuilding can begin
if there is hope for a different future
if ........

but so much has been destroyed
so many lives lost
so much land stolen
in over one hundred years of conflict
seventy-five years of war
ebbing and flowing through the decades
so many still dreaming of ethnic cleansing
politicking and fighting to make it happen

....... maybe a ceasefire
but peace? don't hold your breath