Ashes

Ashes

 

Buildings fall like nauseous hopes;

nothing new for, we, blind to see.

Tender children hardened with dope;

same old wretched calamity.

 

Plastic soldiers melt to the bones;

change the channel, but, life won’t change.

Heroes starve on the courthouse stones.

All eyes shocked, but, it’s nothing strange.

 

No hands to shake, just phones to hold;

human disconnection complete.

Burning oilfields and bloodstained gold:

reload, relax, then, rinse, repeat.

 

Pray for new peace;

jagged pieces.

Stay out of reach

of soul leaches.

Wave angry hands,

jump all around.

“Ashes! Ashes!

We all fall down.”

 

Daddy’s gone, and momma’s crying;

the rerun nightmares overload.

IED, and brother’s dying.

Love, like all sweeter things, corrodes.

 

Politicians speak like martyrs;

“We must save the beaten down poor.

“We must punish trouble-starters.”

Tell it to the ghosts of Darfur.

 

From my secondhand disaster,

I watch the rusty cycle spin.

Turning harder! Faster! Faster!

Carves new reason out of old sin.

 

American

idle; flat-line

All swear we can't

rework designs.

Addicted to

bright sights and sounds.

“Ashes! Ashes!

We all fall down!”

  

Reviews

[Hayley]

"Daddy’s gone, and momma’s crying;
the rerun nightmares overload.
IED, and brother’s dying.
Love, like all sweeter things, corrodes."
Amazing stanza, as well as the last stanza. I agree with Robin, it is like a poem in itself. It's sad, but it's the truth.

[KAREN]

This poem is so relateable to many, it speaks of so much truth!

[emona]

this is EXACTLY whats going to happen in 2012 lol

[Robin]

the last stanza is a poem within itself

[Kerry O'Connor]

A potent, tell it like it really is, ballad of our times. All too infinitely sad.

[Amy Bumpas]

This is the bold truth, and hopefully it sets some free.

[NoneOfYourBusiness akaK..]

now the haunting echo of dust children will stay with me a while~

[Ed Hart]

a voice crying in the wilderness

[V.B.]

Well, of f*****g course you can rhyme as well. God damn.

This poem is like a storm at sea--full of undertow and overflow. It pulls you down and spits you out and pulls you down again. You are like no poet I have ever known, SK, and my admiration of your work is seriously without bounds.

[Peter Joseph Swanson]

Powerful!