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John F McCullagh Feb 2012
His last sunrise shone in his eyes
as we readied, aimed and fired.
“Shoot straight you *******!”“Breaker” yelled
as his life and time expired..

Handcock and Morant together lay
sightless eyes toward the sky.
The courts-martial had convicted them.
Kitchener ordered that they die.

How did I feel about this man
my bullet helped to slaughter?
This man who ordered Boers shot
without a written order.

I’d seen him fight, and bravely too
when Boers struck the town.
The prisoners had manned the line
and helped us hold our ground..

Now stretcher-bearers took their limbs
and bore them from the field.
So fast and secret were their deaths
There was no chance of appeal.

Australians had been killed by Scotch
to please the Dutchman Boers.
British men and Africans-
we were all just following orders.
Peter Handcock and Harry “Breaker” Morant were executed by firing squad on February 27, 1902 at Pietersburg, South Africa. They were convicted of war crimes which  included killing 8 Boer  prisoners and a itinerant preacher. This case was the subject of an excellent Australian film released around 1980.
John F McCullagh Feb 2012
His last sunrise shone in his eyes
as we readied, aimed and fired.
“Shoot straight you *******!”“Breaker” yelled
as his life and time expired..

Handcock and Morant together lay
sightless eyes toward the sky.
The courts-martial had convicted them.
Kitchener ordered that they die.

How did I feel about this man
my bullet helped to slaughter?
This man who ordered Boers shot
without a written order.

I’d seen him fight, and bravely too
when Boers struck the town.
The prisoners had manned the line
and helped us hold our ground..

Now stretcher-bearers took their limbs
and bore them from the field.
So fast and secret were their deaths
There was no chance of appeal.

Australians had been killed by Scotch
to please the Dutchman Boers.
British men and Africans-
we were all just following orders.
Peter Handcock and Harry “Breaker” Morant were executed by firing squad on February 27, 1902 at Pietersburg, South Africa. They were convicted of war crimes which  included killing 8 Boer  prisoners and a itinerant preacher. This case was the subject of an excellent Australian film released around 1980.
Lennox Trim Jul 2024
Yo to keep it 100 -
If I could go back in time I wouldn't.
Let the records hold they place.
I'm done tryin to convince you both the things I been threw.
Before my jersey was in  the rafters,
I was like Vince before he left the Raptors,
Bounding over boundaries like I had shox in my shoes.
You see I tried to impress the judges - I was shocked by the boo's,
My heart turned colder than Toronto cause all my exes were actors,
See I had to ditch diplomacy ; depend against my attackers,
I felt like a loan warrior and then suddenly - I grew,
My limbs stretched further than my imagination,
My torso was more so like a river basin,
but as my body grew in size , the guilt I carried did too,
Before I knew it - my shadow covered the ground like a sheet,
Amazed by the mass I had amassed - I was in disbelief I now stood more than 81 ft,
Now everything I never knew was within my reach,
But peep
The burdens that I bear be on some revenant.
I fed my guilt, it fed off me - I was JUST like Rick Moranis.
I'm Ja Morant or maybe more like Miles Morales..
I'm more and more embarrassed ..by the Aurora Borealus..... left by my shame.
I was forced to swallows my pride - **** be ****** up my larynx,
But I'm boarding up my barracks,
And I'm suggesting you to do the same,
I'm running gags like lil homie from home alone,
I been on DND ever since karma called my home,
Mfs want my jazz but not my blues - I'm more like Karl Malone,
I tried to blame the refs for my fugue state,
when it was me that here .. in the first place.
The victim was the culprit.

Over me it loomed -
dropped an anvil of anguish like they do in ****** tunes,
I'm hangin on by a thread not even lilo could stitch me,
Had to walk it like I talk it - fate tied the shoes on my tongue,
My skin singed by the sharp pain of the 1000 looks,
My skull crushed under the weight of 1000 books,
I had to eat my words, I couldn't stomach it,
My indigestion was incomprehensible,
My miscomprehension of of my tendons was indefensible,
The guilt of feelin like a ship with no direction.
That gut feelin to cut feelins cause **** get deep like a Cesarean Section..
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2022
No great philosopher
Now not even a job
Nervous, nervous energy
Ja Morant a lob

53 and falling
Drift like wood on water
Ukrainian invasion
Russia attempts a slaughter

One man boldly leads
One man he resists!
Tired in America
Lemonade and pretzel twists

Vegetarian tacos
Gracias, senorita
Moby **** in Fairfax
Hummus, quiet, pita

           Bulkington!
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
The godawful ugliness
Of so many American towns
Grey day blues
Not a single beautiful building in sight

Basketball to me is American hope
Canadian invention
Eurostep
We should have eloped

I also like Asian food
Kim Chi
Summer rolls
miso soup

Ja Morant on the break
Jokic with the lob
One hand, with authority
Alley Oop Oop Oop, Oop Oop!
Qualyxian Quest May 2023
I was given madness
So I'm gonna see it through
At the ledge of my Linsanity
Doo wah Diddy do

Not an Academic
Now not even a job
Ja Morant on the break
Jokic on the lob

Glorious sunny day
Curious Robert Graves
Jesuit volunteer
Sunlight on the waves

Sadness and compulsions
Blue Flame in the fire
The Silence is Eternal
Lotus in the Mire

         Please patience
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
I'm kinda addicted to poetry
But it's probably better than crack
Nixon destroyed Cambodia
George W. destroyed Iraq

I like Robert Frost
The road less traveled by
Prince in Minneapolis
Purple goes the sky

Ja Morant can play!
Jokic with the lob
Workin' in the Spirit
Need a part time job

Ancient philosophy
Exoplanets spin
Cardinal Newman is right
You have to lose to win

  Thich Nhat Hanh from ** Chi Minh
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
I like the phrase Thy will be done
But I don't know if Thy is real
I pray for those I love
Beg, borrow, steal

I'm sad so very often
I'm still afraid to die
I'm drawn to several religions
I reread Life of Pi

Tried to be a good teacher
Pretty difficult job
Ja Morant on the break
Jokic with the lob

Think I had a precognitive dream
Warning of the fascists
Dyess, Arkansas
That's where Johnny Cash is

It's too late to turn back now
It's possible I'll be studied
Chicago, Rolling Stones
Muddy Waters muddied

         Fear and Trembling
Qualyxian Quest Jul 2023
The bad boy with the good heart
Like the Rolling Stones
Each day I grow older
Sadness all my own

2072
I hope my sons all still alive
Gonna need duty
Love alone will not survive

Maybe God is Silence
Never intervenes
Deus Otiosus
Rothko blue and green

San Francisco Zen
I like miso soup
Ja Morant on the break
Here comes the Alley Ooop

            Alley Ooop Ooop
                       Ooop

                 Ooop Ooop
Qualyxian Quest Feb 2023
William not Willie
Horton hears a Who
An elephant faithful 100 percent
Pondicherry Zoo

Ja Morant throwin' it down
The Greek Freak on the break
She and I in Jokic town
Nothin' but love to make

The past isn't dead
It isn't even past
La illaha illallah
Hey Now! Everlast

Love is patient and kind
1 Corinthians 13
I wanna travel blind
Does she know now what I mean?

            Me in between.
callie joseph Sep 2020
i
listened to 4 morant
on repeat
not
letting the xannies
hit the bottom
before i took some more
and facetimed
my friends
laughing
lets sneak out
graze our knees
on the griptape
of our new skateboards
and the tarmac
its 2 am
im coming
stand under the window
to my bedroom
second floor
laughing
and catch me
when i try to get down
ready?
im nervous
------------------------------



-----------------------­----------            oh no

---------------
----                  i let go



-------------------         ****

SMACK                                               the worst pain i've ever felt


no this wasn't supposed to happen


-------------------------

-----------                  ­           i landed on the tiles i feel broken


----------------


my back hurts
somethings wrong
****
-                                                        blood everywhere
-
-
****
-
-                                  i thought i was a god
-
i broke it
-
-                                                           i can't feel my arm
-
my back's broken where are my friends
-                                                        ­                       they were never here
**** help help help
they can't hear me
-
-
mum? dad? they'll be so mad
-
-                                                         what do i do
what if i die
what if i never walk again
----

its blurry
call an ambulance
-----                        you're not supposed to move

WHY CAN'T THEY HEAR ME
Qualyxian Quest Oct 2022
I've been wounded by America
And by the Catholic Church
But I've also been gifted
Sophia in my search

I was once in Warsaw
Didn't get the job
The Rabbi of Krakow
I throw a little lob

Basketball my yoga
I like Ja Morant
Paint your masterpiece
If they tell you that you can't

Once I was a teacher
Now I'm just a dad
All my wars are merry
All my songs are sad

        Sweet Sir Galahad!
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
It's only gonna get worse for the Americans
Politics portends
2024
That sinking feeling

When I was 8 or 9 years old
Basketball begins
Thousands upon thousands of hours
Hoopin'. Top 40 radio on my speakers.

Basketball invented by a Canadian
Our friendly neighbors to the North
Come a long way from peach baskets
Ja Morant can play!

Mexico
Korea
Vietnam
Iraq

                 The American Abyss
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2022
At times I mix the real and the imaginary
They might not be so different
She is my fantasy
Help me dailiness

I still love Tolkien
Oxford is quite beautiful
In my escapade
We tenderly caress

I don't hate America
But we need some help
No more mass shootings
No more imperial wars

I thank God for basketball
Canadian invention
Ja Morant can play!
So can Spanish Moors

           Colorado!
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2023
It's only gonna get worse for the Americans
Politics portends
2024
That sinking feeling

When I was 8 or 9 years old
Basketball begins
Thousands upon thousands of hours
Hoopin'. Top 40 radio on my speakers.

Basketball invented by a Canadian
Our friendly neighbors to the North
Come a long way from peach baskets
Ja Morant can play!

Mexico
Korea
Vietnam
Iraq

                 The American Abyss

— The End —