Tag Archives: violence

Hawks At It Again (Tanka)

Hawks at it again

Preaching fear to the masses

McCain’s battle cry

Only he has the answers

Say cheese for the cameras

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Teetering On The Brink

Teetering on the brink–again;

War-hawks sounding their alarm

Like the boy who cried wolf.

Prodding the populace with fear

As if they and they alone can foretell the future,

This is always their way.

They act as if violence on our soil is inevitable,

That we must strike first

Before the boogieman gets us in our sleep.

What is the endgame?

The objectives are muddled at best

Causing more harm than good.

Blaming the other side for inaction

Is their way of shifting focus,

And we believe time-and-time again.

All while their silken pockets are lined with gold

For their them and their friends.

Death is an industry like any other;

Capitalism at its finest

And we feed into their vile fare.

Rallying behind their hate and ignoring their greed

They hide behind the guise of patriotism;

O’ how blind and oblivious we are.

There is no dispute,

Barbaric acts of murder are despicable.

There is no death that can be condoned or celebrated,

Especially of the innocent.

Is this an act of war?

They are not a country.

They are not a government.

They are nothing, but criminals and murderers,

Treat them as such!

Yes, there is evil in this world!

Yes, there is a time and place for action,

But the motives must be clear,

The end must be solidly defined

And the cause must be just.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

With Tears I Say Goodbye

With tears I say goodbye

Though I do not know your pain,

Nor the pain of your ancestors

Inflicted at the hands of those that look like me.

When I look in the mirror

I am not proud,

I am not proud of our past,

Not proud of of our inhumanity,

Not proud of the picture our hands are painting.

With a broad brush,

We paint in your blood,

Red and warm as mine

Though left to dry cold in the streets.

We stand around,

As if awaiting applause,

While your spirit fades,

Showing just how little we care.

I know this is not me,

Though I know you can’t see it;

And that these words are just words

Unable to bring you back from the dead.

Your family grieves,

But their grief is overshadowed,

Trampled down under the weight of constant diversions

Portraying you as something less than human.

Yet none of this matters!

Injustice cannot hide forever

Behind an iron blue citadel

Mortared with lies, racism and hatred.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

AUTHORS NOTE: I was not going to write another piece about the tragedy in Ferguson Missouri today, but I find Michael Browns’s death so troubling that I couldn’t help myself.  His death in my eyes shows that racism still runs rampant in this country though many of us would prefer not to admit it.  For those that would like to pretend this never happened, I think it is time you opened your eyes.  Explain to me how being stopped for jaywalking could escalate to the point where a young man is shot six times and killed, then left alone in the street for so long.  This is completely beyond my comprehension.

Anger–You Can See It On Their Grimaced Faces

Anger–you can see it on their grimaced faces;

Marching, hands raised in civil defiance.

Neither curfew nor militarization will quell them

In the face of injustice.

What passes for authority tries to divert,

Maybe he took the “sweets”, maybe he didn’t,

Maybe he smoked a little weed,

Maybe jaywalking is a capital crime in the south,

Maybe murder is ignored when hidden behind a badge.

So much for civil rights,

So much for equality under the law,

So much for compassion and common decency.

He was eighteen and unarmed,

Of this there is no dispute!

Perhaps he wasn’t an angel…are any of us?

I have bent the law,

Maybe even broken it a time or two,

But I’m still here, breathing, smiling, growing older.

We can deny–

That racism exists,

We can deny–

That blacks are treated differently than whites,

We can deny–

That skin color matters,

But denial doesn’t make it so!

Changing laws do not change hearts,

And time does not necessarily heal…

These are irrefutable facts.

Behind closed doors we disrobe,

Taking off our suit of political correctness,

To reveal naked hate.

We spew the epithets of our fathers,

Who broke the backs of an unwilling immigrant.

It’s as though times have never changed…

And perhaps they haven’t.

The manacles once of iron are now invisible,

The whips of braided leather no longer leave scars,

But the pain, fear and displacement still exists

…In this twenty-first century.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Frozen To The Bone

Frozen to the bone.

Bleeding heart ripped from its soul;

Faith in man–fading!

In an eyes blink we do kill,

No remorse ‘til it’s too late.   This seems oh so cold,

Against what we preach is right,

Yet it doesn’t stop.

We are Neanderthals still,

Little evolved from our past.

Please don’t fool yourselves,

We are wolves disguised as sheep,

Prepared to slaughter.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Galvanizing Hate

Galvanizing hate!

Bombs serve as propaganda

Scrolled in human blood.

Tears can’t wash away the pain

As the body count rises.

What is to be gained,

There cannot be a victor

Amongst this madness?

Only memories of death

Can survive in these ruins.

Animosity!

The progeny of warfare,

Perpetuated.

It is the subjugator–

Trapping us in violence.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Violence Begets Violence

Violence begets violence,

Through blood and terrible pain.

Hatred begets hatred,

With every fallen name.

 

Actions in this moment

Last for generations to come

Long after reasons forgotten

Our passions still succumb.

 

Perpetuating animus

At the cost of innocent life

Caught in the crossfire

Stainless victims of this strife.

 

Given a moment of thought

Or a look in a childs face.

Would we be so rash

To kill instead of embrace.

 

Perhaps someday great wisdom

Will seed the hearts of man.

To recognize the evil

Exacted since time began.

 

The hope for lasting peace

Lives in my fondest dreams.

Though unlikely in this lifetime

Nor ever so it seems.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Boom

Boom!

Explosions foretell impending doom.

Shrapnel tears, litter, debris,

Screams of those one cannot see.

Missiles launched behind human shields,

Zionists and zealots refuse to yield.

Suffering little as the innocent die,

Denying they’re complicit, a terrible lie.

Which side is right, which side is wrong,

Difficult to tell they’ve hated so long.

Whether Gaza, Israel, Russia, Ukraine,

War is still war just with different names.

Fighting for ethnicity, Allah or God,

They’re “holier than thou” is just a facade.

Violence and death under whatever name,

Can’t be justified no matter what the claim.

Which leads me to wonder whether peace is desired,

With every bomb dropped and each rocket fired.

These wars have carried on for eons ‘til today,

I wonder if they really know any other way.

While their innocent suffer and hatred is bred,

I doubt they will stop until all sides are dead.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

War Damages More Than Earth And Enemy

War damages more than earth and enemy.

Its scars not always visible disfigure,

Taking more than life and limb.

Those once docile and kind seethe with anger

Tearing family, home and heart to shreds.

Longing to coddle the child we once knew

We only serve to alienate.

As a result we remain silent,

Helpless against the inner demons that torment.

We pray they make it back home in one piece,

Yet coming to terms with that which we cannot see

…There is now way to prepare for.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Wheels Of Bloody War Continue To Turn

Wheels of bloody war continue to turn,

Backing foreign rebels whose motives unclear.

While villages and cities continue to burn

We’re spoon fed a diet of who we should fear.

~

Millions of dollars to be funnelled covert,

To whom we don’t know, just trust us we’re told.

Protecting our interests how could it possibly hurt,

This story gets older the more that it’s told.

~

Creating future enemies with training and guns,

A lesson that we still have not learned.

Viewed by the world as reincarnated Huns,

Our reputation, our flag once again burned.

~

Another “War on Terror” with no defined win

A phrase perhaps coined oh so rightly

Though resources and patience are stretched ever so thin

We’re lied to with teeth clenched so tightly

~

We’re told this is for the protection of all,

As if we couldn’t see through their disguise.

It’s all about profit and a wealth of crude oil

Wrapped in “freedoms” meager blanket of lies.

~

Our love for our cars, our boats, our planes

And all things founded on fossil fuels.

We take what we want without easing their pains

Makes us look like great bullies and fools.

~

Then they claim concern for the welfare of man

When it’s really nothing more than an act.

Money and greed and taking all that they can

Is an evident though an oft denied fact.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~