current affairs – Page 4 – One Woman's Quest

Who Will Stop The Onslaught?

A nine-year-old skips
along the centre line
of an abandoned street
imagination empowered
by sunshine blue skies

Till the low rumble
of aircraft startles her
and she runs for cover
praying to an absent God
to take her now, young
heart too bruised to carry on.

A fifteen-year-old huddles
in a dank underground corner
already violated by a war
she did not ask for,
shamed by her body’s betrayal
praying for a death more forgiving

A mother holds her baby close
tremors such an indelible part of life now
grasps for a God she once believed in
sees the vacancy in adolescent eyes
the joylessness of her weeping child
prays for a way out of this hell.

Alchemy

Searching for the alchemy
to transform this chaos –
Do they understand depravity,
those who dwell in exurbs,
blinded by their own opulence?

Children are dying, pawns
in a political sham – I know
we’re tired, but now is not
the time to sleep.

(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image mine)

Fences

Look at us building fences
pretending we have differences

Do we not hunger the same
hunt in the same places?

Do we not strive with equal intent
build our nests with the same ferocity?

Forgo passion for survival?
Let us stop pretending

Let down these walls
admit to our vulnerabilities

align our purposes, and
fight a more fearsome foe.

(Fences first appeared here in March, 2018. Image my own)

Evil

How can I capture
the essence of loss?
Sunshine scant
darkness falling
No image/words
stark enough
to serve as allegory
for evil taking lives.

(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)

Commentary

Prevarication
the new hegemony

Lawlessness mocks
governing principles

Body of democracy
faltering beneath weight

archaic ideologies –
dangerous take on leadership.

(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)

Sinking

Ignore the dead
the ocean of grief
capsizing humanity

Keep bailing on reality
conspiracy lacks an oar
we drown without compassion

(Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)

Possessed

Does resolution follow inquisition?
History suggests otherwise…

Yet, here we are
seeking enlightenment,
counting on understanding
to amend the unresolved

Wrestling with denial
praying that research
will unravel falsities,
berate the inappropriate

Good and evil vying
for omnipotence
each of us personally engaged

Righteousness
such a vile possession.

(Image my own)

These Times

The divide between
emotional stagnation
and old structures
now crumbling,
is fraught with peril

We are called to rebuild;
re-solidify our foundations
and regenerate a flow
that sustains and harbours
growth through peace.

(Poem first appeared on One Woman’s Quest II, September 2018. Image my own)

It’s Time, Women

It’s time to resurrect
our confidence,
recapture the sensitivity
of intuitive knowing,
acknowledge the power
of our resiliency

We are women –
merciful companions,
healers attending
Divinity’s passage,
peace-seekers
directing life’s journey.

Too long have we equated
self-esteem with
patriarchal agendas,
disappointed with
our inability to meet
media standards,
blamed ourselves
for divorce,
disease,
staying home
to raise the children.

It’s time to honour
our strength, restore
feminine worth,
align our resources

We are iron grace,
mindful caregivers,
mate with intention,
our vulnerability,
our sensuality,
aspects of intrinisic
wisdom; we are
keepers of the dream,
beings steeped
in mystery –

It is time!

(Originally penned in 2017, It’s Time, Women deserved another look. Image my own)

Irreversible

Who can measure
the cost of war?

How deep destruction
scars the human soul?

I see the trench lines
carved on fathers’ faces

the ghostly pallor
of mothers’ fear –

only the children sing
unaware, bending to fate

with graciousness;
grief’s shrapnel well buried

(Image my own. Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson)