From rhetoric to...what, Exactly?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary nor how justified, is not a crime." – Ernest Hemingway

: "War does not determine who is right, only who is left." - Winston Churchill

As ordered by President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine is now under full-scale attack by Russian forces..

While the hearts of those of us fortunate enough be living in a relatively free society reach out to the ordinary man and women on both sides of the escalating conflict, we can but wait with baited breath for the final outcome, and how it will affect the rest of the world.

Many of us are wondering just how far they will go, those world leaders who have voiced support for Ukraine and condemned Putin; in terms of military support, for example, as opposed to fine rhetoric...?

Potentially, we are looking a third world war in the face. Let us hope not, for the implications of that in the 21^st Century are unthinkable. Hopefully, even Vladimir Putin has more common sense than to envisage taking on the entire Western Alliance? Or does he know something, we don’t...?

Meanwhile, we can but do our best to nurture a positive-thinking mindset and trust that sanity, if not peace, will prevail in our time among its powers that be...

FROM RHETORIC TO.... WHAT, EXACTLY?

I tell people what they want to hear,
take a lead, as powers that be are expected to do,
whether or not election speeches
are full of half-truths meant to muster support
or I simply impose an impression
that any collective mind-body-spirit dare not resist,
such persuasive powers of rhetoric
and gesture as incite following me to the ends of the earth,
no matter injury or death

I urge people to take such pride in me
and in themselves that reservations are swept aside
by a rising tide of reassurance
that God is on the side of Human Rights, has us
in His sights, will bring the world
to see our point of view, make heroes of you-me-us;
whatever history may make of it all,
we will yet justify our actions on a universal scale, reconcile
with its very heart and soul

Ah, but there are flaws in every argument,
to be discerned and expressed by word and/or deed,
or simply ignored by any who much prefer
to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to potential risks
involved regarding family and friends,
nor any less to the mind-body-spirit we claim our own,
in denial of the fact that none of us
stands alone and what affects one affects all, one way or another,
can but redefine our future

Whatever, at least credit me with boosting
a flagging economy, given the manufacture and sales
or various weaponry soaring, anxious
as I am to be seen scoring points over any adversary
daring to take issue with me, expose
such powers that be taking my side and promoting
my intentions, no hint of self-interest,
only desires enough to stoke the fires of Hell until an end in sight,
victory or shameless defeat

I am much the same war cry as preying on humanity’s worst fears
for home and country... across centuries 

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Hillsborough, in Remembrance OR No Justice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

[Update Nov. 28 2019: Finally, 30 years on from the Hillsborough disaster, David Duckenfield - the only person prosecuted - was found not guilty of the manslaughter of 95 people at the stadium in 1989. Needless to say, the relatives of those killed who have been campaigning for justice all this time appeared upset and disgusted by the verdict.]

This is not a new poem but it has not appeared online for a couple of years and now seems an appropriate time to reinstate it. Although it was written in 1989, it did not appear in print until included in an anthology, ‘A Day in Time’ Forward Poetry, 2013. Why?

 I try in my poems to record as many events as possible that have made a deep impression on me and/or everyone else, for whatever reason; this one was written before I began to get poetry published on a regular basis in various magazines and anthologies, and later online. In this way, I began to build a modest reputation as a poet. Even so, it was rare indeed for an editor to accept a gay-interest poem which is why I resorted to self-publishing collections (2000-2012) that included both gay-interest and general poems by way of an attempt to convey not only that these are alternative voices of the same genre but also (to the less discerning among us) that there is more to a gay person’s identity than his or her sexuality. Besides, as far as I’m concerned, a poem is a poem is a poem just as a person is a person is a person...

A whole is the sum of its various parts, and as I have said on the blogs before, I see myself as a poet who also happens to be gay, not a gay poet; my sexuality is an integral part of who I am, but it is only a part. I have been very encouraged to hear from heterosexual readers that they enjoy many of the gay-interest poems I post while it would never have occurred to them previously to explore poems on a gay site. Hopefully, the realisation that gay people are essentially no less ordinary people than anyone else may help break put old prejudices and stereotypes to rights...so whenever straight readers email me that they have enjoyed a poem on my gay-interest blog, as a Liverpool F C supporter did only recently, I am thrilled.

Meanwhile…

It was announced yesterday that some people will (finally) be charged in relation to the Hillsborough tragedy. Among them is David Duckenfield, 73, police commander at the time, who will face charges of gross negligence manslaughter following the crush in the terrace pens of the Sheffield Wednesday stadium, Leppings Lane end at the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest here in the UK on April 15, 1989.

HILLSBOROUGH, IN REMEMBRANCE or NO JUSTICE

For the ninety-six fans who died

(then made to shoulder the blame)

truth will out that lay half buried

Family, friends, have long cried

for justice, and in more than name,

for the ninety-six fans who died

If police, media, playing off-side,

who else engaging with shame?

Truth will out that lay half buried

It was a bulldog spirit succeeded

in putting human flaws in the frame

for the ninety-six fans who died

Where facts and cover-ups collide,

closure but, oh, so slowly ever came

(truth will out that lay half buried)

A closer look, loose threads tied,

(ghosts looking for a football game);

for the ninety-six fans who died,

truth will out that lay half buried

Copyright R. N. Taber 1989; 2012

Civilian Casualties Sidelined OR Whose War Is It...?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

We read and hear much on this or that political platform about Global Warming and the global economic downturn etc.

Considering various conflicts across the world, whatever happened to the Global Conscience?

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES SIDELINED or WHOSE WAR IS IT...?

People left homeless,
losing limbs,
civilian death toll rising,
NATO focusing
on its troop numbers

Children left orphans,
losing limbs,
dying before their time,
NATO playing
the usual blame game

Families left weeping,
losing heart,
making ends meet
as best they can,
fighting a losing battle

Media left observing
lost limbs,
civilian death toll rising,
NATO focusing
on its troop numbers

World left wondering,
why?

[From: Tracking the Torchbearer by R. NH. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012]

Nightmare on Civvy Street

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

I was against the war in Iraq and have never been any too happy with the presence of our troops in Afghanistan. However, both are down to our politicians. Our servicemen and women are doing a fantastic job and deserve nothing less than our 100% support. (M.O.D. please note).

While I fully support anti-war demonstrations, I have nothing but respect and admiration for those front-line men and women who risk their lives daily in the name of peace. Many pay the ultimate price. Others do not receive the 100% support to which they are (surely?) entitled. The dead invariably make headline news, but what about the injured?

There are, of course, two sides to every war. Both genuinely believe they are in the right. We should not be too quick to condemn an enemy comprising many ordinary men and women who, too, risk their lives in a common cause...however much other may deplore that cause.

Whatever, politics fights a dirty war with precious little thought (if any) for those in the front line other than its own [The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a prime example.]

There are various charities available to help serving and ex-serving armed services personnel. The w
former wife of one told me that her husband was ashamed to ask for help, but the stress on their marriage contributory factor in their divorce.

No one but no one should ever feel ashamed to ask for help as and when they need it; it takes courage, but that first step is, in fact, a giant leap for common sense, not to mention a slap in the face for local gossips who know f**k all.

NIGHTMARE ON CIVVY STREET

A soldier, an arm and leg in traction
(truck blown up by a mine)
reassuring us he feels fine, just fine…
while half-listening to pulp fiction;
no regrets, he says, well worth
any price he’d known he might pay
for the thrills and kills every soldier
sees but as Hobson’s choice

As the audio story starts to spread
dark mischief in his one good ear,
he leans forward as if trying to peer
into shadow lands of the dead;
war’s is mother’s milk, he explains,
to those with subtle convictions
like its paymasters and those politicians
floating victory on the wind

The audio voice ducking and diving
the whistle of a sniper’s bullet,
the blind young soldier ducks a hit;
beads of sweat, waking nightmare
without end, need help but ashamed
to ask, need to brave it out in case
anyone guesses there's a human being
behind the hero's smiley mask

Honourable discharge, fighting off tears
for all the world's nightmares

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

[Note: This poem first appeared under the title 'Sweating it Out' in On the Battlefields of Love by R N Taber, Assembly Books, 2010; rev. ed. in e-format in preparation.]]