That’s A Relief Then

THAT’S A RELIEF THEN (One for Charles)

There
Is
Nothing

Wrong
With
Humanity

Genocide
Wouldn’t
Fix

Fortunately
They
Are

Working
On
It

The Real II

THE REAL II

Seems we know nothing
Beyond our imaginings
And what we’ve been told

In And Out The Flesh

IN AND OUT THE FLESH

Sometimes we return here
Other times return there.
Conjecture; construction.
Both imaginary.
It’s neither here nor there.

The Cruellest Month

THE CRUELLEST MONTH

On the twenty-first
Ten years ago
Your son
Claimed this annual
Memorial.

On the twenty-fifth
Two years ago
My wife
Stepped up
To take her own place.

Shoulder to shoulder they,
Shoulder to shoulder we.
Another burden,
Beacon, memorial.
Nothing but memory

Stands the test of time.
And some day
One day,
One fatal day
Not even that.

End Times: Republished

END TIMES

Hold fire! Mukti’s rickety rickshaw
Holds its breath a moment, pauses in suspense,
Gasps, gulps, shudders and shambles one day more
Bent upon what uncertain comeuppance?

What deadly quagmires lurk around us
As faulty torches, barely flickering,
Leave us stalking fears, while dreams caress us
Beneath steel towers, looming, uncaring?

Surreptitious glances scan each shadow,
Meet only with mirrors too fogged to read
And whereof, pray, this breath? Above? Below?
Which blurred each image, then blindness decreed?

After the abandon of summertime
Comes winter’s burning breathtaking horror.
Bully boys preparing fresh pits of lime.
Hear them sniggering in the corridor,

~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~

“On April 4, 1945, soldiers from the U.S. Third Army freed a camp in the town of Ohrdruf, in central Germany. Tech. Sgt. Eugene Luciano later wrote about the experience:

‘Many prisoners laid in their bunks too weak to move, but raised their arms in thanks. Bodies were piled high on the ground; others were in pits covered with lime. There were rows of ditches filled with buried bodies with an occasional leg or arm protruding [sticking up] out of the ground. The stench was intolerable.’ ”

– The Free Library by Farlex.

Of course that kind of thing couldn’t happen these days could it?

Who II

WHO II

Who
Is with
The one
Who is
Alone?

If be
Your answer
“No one”
Pray search
Further

Onlooker: Quatrain

ONLOOKER

Just another snapshot
Just another day
Breath carries on
Regardless

Obstruction

OBSTRUCTION

Solitary, ashen
Hollow footsteps echo
Across the great hall
Absent any like-minded

Outside in the glare
A multitude in sackcloth
Sheep and cattle tethered

We see in it greatness gone
And the lesser come upon us

A market place
A slaughterhouse
A gaming house
A gaudy brothel

A mortuary
A graveyard

A withered stump

Let Me Out!

LET ME OUT!

There’s an acrostic
Describes some people
Activities
Situations
You know the kind

Bereft
Of
Real
Interest
None?
Guaranteed

Pratfall: Senryu

PRATFALL

Take notes and move on
Whoever never messed up
Has missed half of life