Poetry competition CLOSED 30th November 2014 11:58pm
WINNER
Astyanax (Ceejay)
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RUNNERS-UP: LobodeSanPedro and anonymouslyhere

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Thank you for your Service/This is Why I Serve

HHMCameron
BetaWolfinVA
Fire of Insight
United States 4awards
Joined 17th Oct 2014
Forum Posts: 315

Poetry Contest

Basically this competition is a chance to allow all of the rest of us to share our opinions (good and bad) of the military, and for service members, significant others, dependents and spouses to share what it is like for them, (good and bad).
Original works if you please.
(Neither Rudyard Kipling nor William Butler Yeats, being on the last patrol, may enter)

But it does not need to be written fresh for this competition.

Thank You for your Service.

Let the games begin.

anonymouslyhere
Pariah Shadow
Dangerous Mind
United States 5awards
Joined 31st Oct 2013
Forum Posts: 1633

~thank you~


Thanks for your serves
we hardly deserve this
its like the fighting is worthless
like it doesn't serve a purpose
another cold corpse
and a father or motherless child
in denial
all the while
the government
ain't doin' shit
just wasting tax dollars
cant hear the screaming hollers
from the anti-war callers
now I can understand war
when its needed
but all these soldiers bleedin'
kinda pisses me off
to see they don't care
it isn't fair
we should end this now
its like they cant figure out how
all the sacrifice
I can give them some advise
cause it wouldn't be so nice
if it where there kids
or husband or wife
who was layin' down his or her life
its time we take a knife
to the main vein of this war
and end it
there afraid to kill
the ones who want to steal
our life's
and I don't like violence
but when it comes to them or us
its an obvious must
but I have no trust
in our law makers
worse than law breakers
but I cant change a damn thing
so I guess all I can do
is look at soldiers and say thank you.

chump
Thought Provoker
United States 6awards
Joined 30th Sep 2014
Forum Posts: 417

VA

blinded or broken
for freedom they've spoken
now mocked by the stairs
in walkers or wheelchairs
good times and glories
brighten their stories
of strength and of courage
they all deserve telling
but most are here
for the pain and the swelling
thousands of saviors
just trying not to die
even the devil, a tear in her eye
not in this country
there should be no why
their health care is a wreck
it's time for our hands
on their deck
we the people
squeezing
the government's neck

case28
Alexander Case
Dangerous Mind
42awards
Joined 16th June 2013
Forum Posts: 2077


Essence of Sacrifice


"In the name of the father
and one scornful son
this day has been and will
be forever ours, amen!"
It was not in vain
that lives were surrendered
or never forgotten
how bodies are dismembered.
It was their duty to march
into the clutches of death
but sheer bravery is why
the walls will be remembered.


It was not a valley of death I saw
only mountains of soldiers
and a flowing river of curdled blood.
Fear loomed; men cried and shrieked
bullets whistled...
silence was only what hearts
of the dead could yield.
The skies fell, the seas boiled
and the earth spawned hell.
Violence endowed with steel;
chaos begot the battlefield.
     

War has no meaning, no reason
it only has function
the blackest of all plagues...
pure death and destruction.
Upon that day of mercy
was it St. Michael who wiped the
blood off his sword
perched victoriously on Satan’s head?
Deaf angels, powerless
to all the broken hearts back home
undertakers count blessings...
counting coffins for the dead.


Boys left to be soldiers with orders
to defend our freedom
soldiers returned as heroes
men haunted by dark wisdom.
They lost themselves
in the eyes of enemies
when they stole a last breath
held friends in their arms
as they bled to death.
Some came back alone
no family or home, nor word
from another. Many searched
waited on word from a brother.


Trenches are swallowed by earth
steel destroyed by rust;
debris of a battlefield are
forgotten by growth and dust.
Many ages, bound by utter silence
gather upon the dawn
humbled by solidarity
for fallen heroes they come to mourn.
A march of frail warriors
seldom honoured with such respect.
A past that we are ashamed of...
a greater shame if we forget.



Written by Alexander Case

Astyanax
Ceejay
Fire of Insight
United Kingdom 9awards
Joined 23rd Feb 2010
Forum Posts: 748

A few words of explanation: During the Iraq war, our war dead were brought back to a military airfield, then a convoy of hearses would transport the coffins to a military hospital where they would be handed over to their families. The convoy passed through a small village called Wootton Bassett, and each time a convoy came through, all the villagers would line the main street in silent tribute to the fallen. This is what I wrote at the time:

Coming Home

No take-off nerves, no in-flight drinks,
No airline meals, no raucous badinage;
They come off the back of the plane
Like cargo, like freight,
Carried by bearers, covered with a flag;
A careful inching down the ramp,
Then slid into the waiting hearse
To drive off in formation.
Through the streets of the little town.

And always, the silent crowd:
The men, the girls, the old, the young,
The weeping wives and families,
Pale and stunned with loss too vast to bear,
And the babes in arms, not knowing,
But lulled to wide-eyed silence
By the weight of grief around them.

We owe them this; they went for us -
Not solemnly, with frowns and lawyers’ words,
But cheerfully, with young men’s open smiles,
And boisterous jokes and cracks about the food -
And now they’re back.
They’ve given all they had, we must give them our thanks,
It is the very least that we can do.


staggerlee
Paul Martin
Thought Provoker
Ireland 1awards
Joined 16th Nov 2013
Forum Posts: 77

All I WANT IS MY LEGS BACK

You can stick your honour
You can stick your glory
You can stick your medals
And military parades
I make no excuses for the courage
That I lack
I just want my bloody legs back

I don't want to hear about no moral high ground
How we were right
and they were wrong
and victory was almost won

Was worth it you ask me
just look at all that oil flowing free
And big fat men in Texan hats
Clap us on the back
and call us brave patriotic chaps

And now only the busy nurses. are left to care
Me held prisoner in this bastard chair
never knew there was worst things than dying
O lord hear my prayers return me from enternal black
or better still just give me my fucking legs back

HHMCameron
BetaWolfinVA
Fire of Insight
United States 4awards
Joined 17th Oct 2014
Forum Posts: 315

I believe in you,
and always have,
you defend us with your lives,
often the only currency you have
.
your masters are liars and cheaters,
normal men writ large in excess and chicanery,
pretending to be righteous and forthright
as they send you off to war
.
for some oil baron's profits
or politician's legacy
those in opposition to progress control the purse strings
and blame the executive for inaction
.
the stalking horse ran rampant all over
Afghanistan and Iraq
for many years when our boys should have been called home
after victory was declared
.
nation building and training of host nations forces
is special forces job,
not the regular army
not the national guard
.
much lives and treasure lost
for Afghanistan and Iraq to stand
on their own two feet
and follow their tribal leaders as they have always done
.
as they always will


Astyanax
Ceejay
Fire of Insight
United Kingdom 9awards
Joined 23rd Feb 2010
Forum Posts: 748

Alf and Phil

Alf and Phil,
Both small men, both East-End boys,
Growing up in that Thirties world
Of black-and-white films, crowded pubs, street corners,
Women in pinafores, men in caps.

Phil: skinny, fast-talking, irreverent,
A cockney joker, and no mistake,
Whose tales of authority upset and pomposity confounded
Would dissolve into helpless chortling.

Alf: neat, grave, dignified,
A measured raconteur, who’d fix you with a steady eye
And end his tale with a solemn, ‘Oh yes,’
Before flooring you with a dazzling smile.

Alf was Artillery, Phil a Rifleman.
Retreating through Albania in ’41,
While Alf’s mob were heading south,
Destroying their guns as they went,
The Germans on their tail,
They met Phil’s mob,
Digging slit trenches in the road
Then lying in them, their guns ready,
Facing the other way.

That’s who they were, and I am grateful
To have known them as my friends.

Quill-in-Heart
Tony Pena
Fire of Insight
United States 12awards
Joined 6th Dec 2012
Forum Posts: 1078

I'm not sure if this meets your criteria for the comp but basically it's a song I just posted on DUP about the raw deal I feel that Veterans have gotten on coming home.


Liberty Square

The Vets shuffle by all creases and shine
Backs straighten through the ache of brittle bones
Saluting each Old Glory on the line
Along a sea of orange traffic cones

Spoiled brats rolling blank eyes looking away
Just anxious for the floats to pass on by
God bless the mall for another sales day
On the tab of guys cursed enough to die

Chorus

Drinking with devils roosting in the air
Their best friend's blood on their camouflage wear
So easy to ignore when you weren't there
More than just names bronzed in Liberty Square

Half a Jack brought a quart of Jim Beam home
To share with his buddies met overseas
Spent all afternoon looking for a comb
So that the company boys wouldn’t tease

Bells at Franklin Tower ringing ten times
Ten shots of whiskey lined up in a row
Bourbon burning Jack's throat at the last chime
Tenth year in a row the boys didn’t show

Repeat Chorus  

SEE VIDEO BELOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SHK8aR7pN6I


frankleewriggle
Lost Thinker
United States
Joined 8th June 2014
Forum Posts: 4

Travel the world they said
    Take in all that it has to offer

Protect us from the Red
    Monitor the Nuclear Arms Treaty

Top secrete and hell bent
    School is what I did

My time was well spent
    Electronics is what I repaired

They say it was a time of piece
    Every day I watched another test

A cold war without a decrease
    Earth wears scars for 4.7 billion years

My time served having been a cold war patriot
    Good friends and brothers remembered still

I learned the end can come in the immediate
    Foul memories of events that will end us all

Some achieve in ascension
    Fearful that we are not smart enough to hold them in check

Piece may not be possible with man’s predilections
    I weep for the broken young men returning home

I am stick in war’s dichotomy
    Hating real war, fearing the alternative and known hatreds bounty

Too many wanting to live in hatred and Infamy
    Sad, broken and old I wish for courage, love and piece among man

poet Anonymous

Bagram Blues

Blasted wrecks,
minds & mines,
boots on the ground,
churn dust from the moon.

Red & Green stars,
bear wishes of Death,
to burn & sting,
flesh is no armor.

We dress in chameleon hues,
invisible to murderous intents.

Yet we carry humanitarian stores,
and minds conditioned
to kill with conscience.

Old, tired propaganda,
echoes through hearts & minds,
defining hollow victories
& rationalized sacrifice.

We dodge Death
that aims not at the herd,
but takes its draught
in singular stabs of rocket-pitchforks,
and plucks us out one by one,
like petals from a filthy daisy.

Thanks to all the vets and their families for their service, Mike.

LobodeSanPedro
Tyrant of Words
Sierra Leone 109awards
Joined 16th Apr 2013
Forum Posts: 3304

I don't play ball anymore

upon my brother's chest
fall the incongruent tears of

what was it the minister called it

oh yeah, that's right

a grateful nation.

I asked my brother once  

what do those people look like over there.

they look like us  
serenity is surrendered to squalor
respect is held in the curl of my forefinger  
honeyed skin is baked ripe for adjudication  
all walk a sand silted plank in the delta.  

the minister says he died bringing justice to the world  

yet his body is dressed and boxed  
with the same ceremony as a baseball game

same damn song too
but somehow I've forgotten the words.

HHMCameron
BetaWolfinVA
Fire of Insight
United States 4awards
Joined 17th Oct 2014
Forum Posts: 315

Wow  Very much loved all of them...

I expected it to go up for a vote...


LobodeSanPedro
Tyrant of Words
Sierra Leone 109awards
Joined 16th Apr 2013
Forum Posts: 3304

Brilliant write ceejay!  Vivid images that wet my eyes, I hope you post this so I can add it to my reading list.  HHMCameron thanks for hosting this challenge filled with so many wonderful writes, and thanks for the nod on my piece.  

johnrot
Tyrant of Words
21awards
Joined 10th Oct 2012
Forum Posts: 3645

good write c j......;


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