Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.
Karen Margolis
56 years old
Born 1952 Zimbabwe, childhood in S. Africa and London; lived in Berlin since 1983. Writer, poet and journalist, book author. Contributor to Poets against the War anthology 2003 and to PAW newsletter as Berlin correspondent.
Fondest regards to Sam Hamill!
Gaza
Gaza
effigy of a charred baby high on a pole a trophy of suffering on parades of grief and hate
Goliath versus David the legend perverted masses converted to revenge and hate
endless retaliation devouring new generations condemned from cradle to grave to hate
the parents of war devour their children live before the world's eyes an orgy of suffering for hate
truce; mourning; rubble aid appeals follow the TV show viewers donate to compensate for hate
who needs the carnage? who gambles on collateral damage? who profits from death with the weapons of war to feed hate?
we the Jews can only lose the Red Sea will not part for us again no god and no book will stop us drowning in hate.
9 November 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which heralded the end of the Cold War. Here are two poems to mark the occasion, and to salute Poets Against War for continuing to publish poetic voices against war.
Wall story
Once there was a wall that stood for world war mass slaughter, genocide and the cynical ideological division of a continent
The wall fell people rejoiced the world watched the party before switching channels
change always looks good garnished with handouts & promises but tarnishes quickly dulled by the business of living
the magnifying glass of history makes dictators more fearsome heroes braver and walls higher
pending anniversaries the past is packaged for present consumption concrete chips in bottles maps of vanished border zones memoirs of neighbourhood spies photos of faded graffiti obsolete car models retro matchboxes recipes for scarcity — all the stuff that feeds archives commemorative displays & museum shops
nostalgia repeats itself until remembrance turns to depression still, there's no going back
the hole the wall left has grown to a global chasm with millions teetering on the edge of existence freedom fenced in threats on all fronts and devalued promises sold as rescue packages with the call to build new walls
Each of us has a wall story a tale buried in the debris of a time that keeps returning
the Baltic shores were crawling with ladybirds red & black carpets on golden sandy beaches ignoring the omen, the official party newspaper blamed it on a plague of aphids from the Soviet Union, possibly but didn't mention the masses streaming westwards socialism haemorrhaging through opened borders
twenty years on, the ladybirds are back in force swarming over deckchairs of budget holiday families the Baltic shores are crawling with neo-Nazis & real estate sharks fat from reconstruction
a vanished nation haunts the whole of Germany
Starbucks and public viewing stand for progress (what they used to call bread & circuses) Rotkäppchen Sekt brings a prickle of nostalgia comic figures on traffic lights signify remembrance and the ladybirds? — a timely gift of coincidence
