Powerful police
place blame on the opposition,
as information seeps
from firearm to face
and intimidation rules
its mighty dread
as death beckons those
who dare to speak.
Lauding his lies
of racial reconciliation,
Mugabe mounts his terror-tied throne;
condoning truths of innocent ideals
as the guilty gather greed
in reality's harms.
Economy slides
in breadbaskets of disbelief
while loyalist fingers
farm destruction's cause
and applause falls silent
in fraudulent gains,
as pain is projected
through militant blockades.
Violence voices
its inconclusive results
as the majority stalls
in firebombed collapse
and Zimbabwe relapses
to mob action attacks...
till there's no way back
for those broken and killed.
And we sit
and we watch
as calamity cries
in the eyes of children
beaten and bruised,
dragged from their homes
for daring to dream
that sunshine could shimmer
in those suburbs of shame.
Yet this world pleads ignorance
as innocents bleed,
refusing to acknowledge
the true force of our palms,
for if we all raised hands
and gave one voice united...
we could out the one
who dictates
death over life!
A contest entry
- Democracy for Zimbabwe? PIF by ecrivain01.
650 points, ended July 8, 2008, 4 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
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You know very well, where I stand on this issue
I would agree with you wholeheartedly. Keep penning your powerful words, and I will add to them. We are only two people, and yet, it seems there are others. Excellent as always!
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You brought out so many truths here. I think you did a great job of word choices to get your amazing message across to those who never think about whats happening. Pen on...
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Yeah! I am so happy you won gold in J. D.'s contest! I just wrote a metaphorical poem about this tyrant! He asked me why I didn't enter his contest? The world does indeed plead ignorance, but not the US. We are desperately trying to get him to sit and talk, but he is a manic! So happy WE are free to speak our minds! I'm so glad I clicked on this wonderful verse. So terrible. So true! Keep writing abut injustices!
Linda
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I feel incredibly despondent about Africa ... and incredibly inept as an American whose government seems intent on ignoring Africa while spending billions of dollars on a war that cannot be won and shouldn't even be being fought.
How many more must suffer genocide ? I wish there were oil there.
Congrats on your Gold.
(an excellent if not horrific book I read recently "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families" by Philip Gourevitch. It is stories from Rwanda. Heartbreaking and illuminating.
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I have purchased the book on your recommendation and although I'm only into the 4th chapter, I agree that it is truly heartbreaking. I have to keep putting it down to weep and re-energize. How we as a people can sit back and know of such atrocity to mankind and still plead ignorance is beyond my understanding
Thank you for your comments and for telling me of the book.
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GREAT poem! Extremely powerful, with great descriptive phrases, not overdone, just evocative. The line breaks help the flow, though makes the length APPEAR daunting...I thought it worked very well. Keep it up! --Shannon
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This is a great poem. The political situation in Zimbabwe is a travesty. A cult of personalitly has developed. Mugabe has joined the ranks of Mao, Kim Jong Il, and Castro as someone that came to power on the promises of reform, and stayed in power for its own sake.
The gold was well deserved.
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The problem ...
is that the populace are unarmed, while the government thugs have the guns. That is a salient point in the situation. Also, the government is organizing the attacks, and the victims are mostly disorganized and being attacked in their homes or on their way to rallies for the opposition.
Thanks for entering. -
Awesome!!!! This is the kind of things I'd love to see you write more of, your ability to project the actual depth of this atrocity is superb! There is definitely a truth to be heard in the last lines, but as I said so many times, ignorance reigns in this world. People would rather drive around in their fancy new vehicles and try to look better than everyone else, than actually do something productive.
Thank you for sharing this, amazingly written, words choices and rhyme are astounding! Maybe a few will wake up?
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I'm impressed by your knowledge of what is happening over there.
"calamity cries in the eyes of the children". That's a good image with an effective internal rhyme. And I like the point you make about the potential force of our raised palms.
Good luck in the conterst.
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