Not Peace

There are ceasefires and rumours of ceasefires:

Behind the scenes diplomacy takes place,

With everyone desperate to save face,

Even as another deadline expires.

Arms industry profits continue to soar,

While the attrition rate’s unforgiving,

As also the rising cost of living

For the many dispossessed, who’re still poor.

And it’s the self-same poor’s sons and daughters

Who’ll make the munitions and build the tanks,

As well as being recruited to the ranks,

Then dispatched to the various slaughters.

Meanwhile, grandiose leaders strut around

On what they claim as their moral high ground.

D. A.

Appeasement

There’s insistence amongst political

Gangsters that only bellicosity

Can deter a rival’s ferocity;

Be a serpent, not a worm that turns tail,

With the inevitable consequence,

Of aggressors taking encouragement

From any expressed pacific intent.

Munich’s often cited, with an implied sense

It is moral turpitude and weakness

To insist war is a terrible waste,

While any real peace can only be based

On martialled military means to impress.

Alternatives, however realistic,

Tend to send politicians ballistic.

D. A.

Socialist Sonnet No.184 (A)

Challenging (1)

There is a challenge to we advocates

Of our world being transformed by conscious choice,

Here is the quaver of doubt in my voice.

I’m a frequent witness to parlous states

Hedgerows, verges and lay-bys are left in;

Tree hung dog-poo bags, or tied up and tossed

Amongst bottles and cans and slimy waste

Of fast food cartons by those bereft in

Their social concern, the couldn’t-carers

For whom self not others matters the most.

Meanwhile, volunteers are doing their best

To make things better, as litter pickers.

Social and anti-social, here’s a schism

That’s not the fault of capitalism.

Socialist Sonnet No.184 (B)

Challenging (2)

It certainly seems at times there are those

Who are despoilers, being bent on making

The world worse, intent only in taking,

Without consideration or remorse.

They stand in contradistinction to all

The many, many unreported acts

Of humanity, unacknowledged facts,

Obscured by the far fewer that appal.

People can choose, sometimes it’s the wrong choice,

Hindering progress, even appearing

To reverse it.  Those resolved on steering

Towards better, need a persistent voice

Amidst the clamour of competing views,

And media dedicated to bad news.

D. A.

Security?

Does security have a going rate?

What, precisely, is the calculation

Demanded by protecting the nation

And its capital? It’s the other state,

Of course, aggressively belligerent

And quite determined to get its own way,

Which is responsible for this outlay

On our proud military deterrent.

Whatever’s spent, the other then spends more,

Thereby by forcing increased expenditure,

But never enough, it seems, to be sure

Peace will be achieved and maintained through war.

When they attack their aggression’s immense,

When we attack it’s always self-defence.

D. A.

Dealing

The dealer shuffles the pack and then deals;

With thousands, maybe millions being staked.

A high rolling gambler’s thirst won’t be slaked

Until all hands have been played. Who then steals

The pot, raking in the chips and stacking

Them in neat columns, a harsh histogram

Of winners and losers? Those the cards damn

Find they’re living lives suddenly lacking

A roof, food on the table, or even

A table, or so much as a gutter

To lie in. All who’re drawn by a flutter

Stake their fortunes on the dealer, who then

Calls trumps and deals – one state, two states or more,

Knowing when tricks are turned there’ll still be war.

D. A.

Commercial Property

Commercial bids, sealed of course, are invited

For this intractable tract of land, freed

By eviction, coming with guaranteed

Vacant possession. We are delighted,

As appointed agents of the present

Administrators, this prime real estate

Is offered to those who negotiate,

On their own behalf, with the sole intent

Of maximising profit potential.

Partial demolition, but site clearance

Requires completion. Such a golden chance

Rarely comes to market. Need for quick sale!

While there’s unquestioned viability,

Vendors can’t accept liability.

D. A.

Barriers

Close the borders of the land of the free,

Throw up interlocked fences, build a wall

Or, better still, both, thereby keeping all

Clamouring criminal migrants at bay.

Call out the National Guard, a show of strength

By bristling patriotic warriors.

Next, time to erect tariff barriers

And be prepared to go to any length

To make this a country of succeeders.

 Promise the people they’ll be securer,

Even when everyone’s so much poorer,

Everyone, that is, except the leaders.

It seems the question of security

Is finally solved through ethnic purity.

D. A.

Memory Moving Forwards

The road thus far from Auschwitz-Birkenau

Continues being paved with good intentions,

Although there are frequent dissentions

From notions of human rights, even now.

Too many fingers ready to point out

Those who are to be considered others,

No matter they be sisters and brothers,

Even if unrelated by blood. Doubt

Does not seem to bother the demagogue

Who savours every bitter word spoken,

Yet has no words to mend a world broken,

Fractures they would conceal in night and fog.

Look for a fresh way, don’t just follow orders,

Choose the road less travelled, beyond borders.

D. A.   

Trump Cards

When did billionaires become so blatant?

Such shufflers and dealers of influence

In full public view, not even pretence

Of discretion, extolling noxious cant

As reasoned argument. Not just tearing

The veil of democracy, but ripping

It down and casting it aside, stripping

Politicians naked while appearing

To promote their infallibility,

Denying any counter arguments

To stakes calculated in dollars and cents:

Values traded as exchange currency.

When it comes to egos and the nation,

The danger is runaway inflation.

D.A.

Burning Issue

City of Angels is burning,

As the rich watch their real estate

Consumed by a changing climate.

Are they capable of learning

That their way of living has stalled?

Because their world can’t be sustained,

Pools of profit need to be drained,

Common humanity recalled.

The not so rich, the very poor

Also must act in this same scene

To abolish, at last, what’s been

Fuelling the problem. Profits soar

While the free market keeps trading,

Even as the earth’s degrading.

D. A.