| Pre-emptive Peace by S.L. McKay Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty. – Archbishop Oscar Romero |
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| Tear Drop Voluminous curtains Creosote clouds part Unveiling a bitter blue sky Gulls swoon into view A screeching chorus of mournful cries Pleading cries, unrelenting Palm-vised ears cannot escape Ghostly echoes -- a generation of pleas Obscenities unleashed Denial vain, perilous Beyond the bitter blue sky The mournful cries Spanning mile upon mile upon elliptical mile A rusted land comes into view Parched yet damp from mothers' tears And children's blood Scorched yet chilled from one million screams Discarded bones, malignant seeds Global hybrid sewn shallow Beyond the bitter blue sky Mournful cries The rusted land A face comes into view Wan and bony, graceful as a lily With eyes as big and dark at the universe Peering endlessness Glimpsing, mirroring perfection I see my mother's face, my father's It is my sister's face, my brother's Such a lovely face, it is my face and Yours ... and yours ... and your face Beyond the bitter blue sky The mournful cries The rusted land Eyes big and dark and shining like the universe I see the face My eyes beg to weep A single tear escapes Dancing down our cheek Faltering at the crest of our chin Suspended upon the edge of time In the space of a single universal heartbeat The tear Drops -slmckay march 2003 |
| Spring Blaspheme Ten thousand peace doves spread their wings Bursting forth amidst lunacy Did you chance to gaze innocence Inhale the scent of grace upon the breeze Embrace the ironic As ten thousand hawks screeched and plummeted Shattering realities unrecognized Scattering flesh and lineage Unseen beneath the scenery Displayed proudly for the ten million true blues lounging self-bound to LaZ Boys Gagged by Doritos, gassed by Coke Seduced by images of 4th of july skies Juxtaposed over Mesopotamia lighting up ancient memories ... jingoist glory jolting newborns ... separating mother from child child from limb graphic human shock and awe was not on the menu served up in prime time as a snack at NCAA half time bloody shock and awe did not begin and end with a click of the remote Ten thousand sobs and moans of victims Filled the mordant air but was not heard live or taped delayed Sinister haze at dawn was their mime in keeping with combat etiquette mickey mouse journalists neglected to expose the bittersweet as ten thousand peace doves fell to earth at the exact moment a trembling lily pushed up her battered face beyond the sulfured rubble unabashedly vibrant and alive -slmckay march 2003 |
| war dreams shall children dream of falling snow soft, quiet brutal gray and warm snowmen melt upon impact no thought, no form shall mothers dream of unborn sons strong, fit feudal proud oh still yes-men, forsaken promise no choice, no will shall lovers dream of angry dawn cold, silent hostile red a'seethe human souls tormented no love, no peace -slmckay 2001 |
| false idols unholy wars follow the selfish the unjust harmony and affection will not come through fire and rage lo, god reborn in weak men's minds vengeance, suffering and sorrow rule Divine embraced as All for all justice, peace and love reign -slmckay, October 2001 |
| mad man mad who gassed the kurds was it hussein and his friends was it the us and our friends whose friends his friends our friends all friends who starved bagdad was it saddam and his men was it the us and amen whose men their men our men amen who killed bagdad was it bombs and bad men was it whims of a mad man whose men their men our man mad man mad -slmckay, 2002 |