Silenced Screams

I can close my eyes and feel the shattering of glass,
hearing each individual shard hit the ground wondering if a child’s foot will run over it bare.
I can see the tattered wood and brick of a city under siege with massive machines of death, the B – 52 raining down tones of destruction.
I can smell the rancid odor of wells on fire,
choking the environment so that maybe a madman can hang on for even one more minute.
I can hear the screams silenced, of a people who for twenty years have lived under the scourge of tyranny,
fantastically rich as a nation,
but spiritually raped by the long years of an unopposed dictator –
Unopposed for fear of death.
I close my eyes and feel my spirit torn by the wholesale misery and sadness of this step, which should have been taken in 1991 –
Cut the head of the snake,
kill those that you must,
But no more,
so that renewal can begin.

SDM

Networked Fear

Ominous –
Looming –
Impending War –
Are you frightened?

Has CNN
or NBC
or CBC
or BBC convinced you of the need to go to war –
To shatter a nation already in shambles –
Incidentally one of the wealthiest Oil nations in the world.
Did I mention with a leader (whom no one really chose except for the United States),
sounds eerily familiar,
especially to the people who elected Gore
and ended up with Bush.

We’re hearing about drones and no fly zones,
seeing controlled and contrived images
as approved by the very real censors of Iraqi’s,
just like you or I digging trenches outside their homes,
on their streets –
Can you imagine that?

And I don’t mean city workers –
I mean can you imagine digging a trench in Toronto,
Ottawa or
Montreal,
New York,
Los Angeles or
Washington.

Trenches!
We’re hearing again,
about blanket bombers from another war –
Sorry conflict, not so long ago –

What do you think the Vietnamese are thinking of the B – 52’s active use again?
We’re hearing of B2B’s and I don’t mean business to business –
F – 117’s, Apaches and lest we forget batteries of Patriots –
Untold (literally untold for the cost of War is never as neat as Balance Sheets and Profit Loss statements)
Billions will be spent fighting to depose one man –
One man and a few of his cronies, is anyone else afraid,
what happens when the dog scratches –
your bound to come up with fleas –
Believe me – No amount of duct tape is going to keep a determined flea out!

These are but a few thoughts on a senseless war which could be but one mans blood –

SDM

Choose - Live or Die

10 minutes to midnight,
what will happen when the clock strikes twelve,
will Saddam’s maniacal Cinderella tale come to an end,
on the screen I just saw,
the B – 52’s getting ready,
on the runway,
fueled,
Is it time to go?
8 minutes to midnight,
is it time for blanket bombing to begin?
7 minutes to midnight,
at least in Baghdad;
the coalition of the willing,
about to drop bombs,
defense contractors pockets filling,
6 minutes now,
what are we to think?
5 minutes,
I’d really like a drink,
My mind wandering,
I’d really like to know,
Are the B – 52’s just for show,
Ask the Vietnamese,
They’ll tell us true,
4 minutes now,
oil fires in Basra await,
3 minutes,
surrender or fight,
2 minutes,
expedition in Iraq two hours ago,
12 hours early,
1 minute:
Choose –
Live or die?

SDM

______________________________

Context: Written the night the US invaded Iraq