Category Archives: war

April 13, 2022 · 4:05 pm

Before Me – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Mish is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem using the inspiring work of Vika Muse instagram.com/get.muse or @get.muse.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – The Light of Vika Muse

Art Work: Vika Muse ‘Stop War (The Dandelion Field)’ @get.muse

“I have lost my smile, but don’t worry, the dandelion has it.” Thich Nhat Hanh

Before Me 

Before me lies my field of happiness
of yellow maned lions drawing down
sun-filled songs of joy capturing my
despair and releasing me.

I stand in my field feeling loved,
grounded and open to all that unfolds,
knowing that these leaves may wilt,
but my love will hold stronger.

I wander my field witnessing hope,
that ancient cycle of blown seeds
travelling the broad plains of history,
holding the past and present in a future.

I sit in this field of smiling suns that
radiate joy in the midst of all that stirs
my heart and wearies my mind,
offering me α wellspring οf peace.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

Note: Dandelions are a true herb and have wonderful properties for diet and health, but are also ancient symbols of happiness, love and hope.

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April 7, 2022 · 2:08 pm

How Long? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-22/ukraine-russia-war-live-blog-zelenskyy-putin-kyiv-mariupol/100927906 Ukraine invaded by Russia – Mariupol suffers heavy shelling.

“Evil thrives on apathy and cannot exist without it.” Hannah Arendt 

How Long?

I felt it coming from my depths,
a murmuration of emotions
rising like leviathan from the roiling sea
of frustration, pacing the bounds of
disgust, wanting to act, not knowing 
how, stooping to the gutter of evil
thoughts, naming the perpetrators 
as if they were alone, singular, in 
their vile behaviour, ignoring the
complicity of humanity in all that 
we do as blame feels weightless,
an expiation of our own powerlessness,
an acknowledgment of the thuggery 
before us, which ever remains as 
I remain, waiting for something,
anything, to happen which might
be an end of this war.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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March 13, 2022 · 3:32 pm

When We Stand – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: from the hindustantimes.com Result of Russian bombing of Kharkiv.

“What a dishonour to just bend down and obey fate.” Lesya Ukrainka 

When We stand

What is a moment, 
when is a journey,
how do we step through shadows
in the long night of winter's approach,
cradled in short views of chance and
change, rattled by a murderous chill
that encroaches the edges of my
dreams in little hints of insanity,
carried by a darkness of heart.
What is a moment,
when is a journey?
The journey begins in the moment
when we seek an end to oppression.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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March 11, 2022 · 4:12 pm

Forgiveness Is Never Cheap – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Laura is hosting Meeting The Bar, with an invitation to write a ten line-ten syllable per line poem. For details follow the link below.

dVerse Poets – Meeting the Bar – Numbering Ten

Photo: earlynews24.com One of many photos recording the Russian Bombardment of Ukraine.

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” Howard Zinn

Forgiveness Is Never Cheap

Freedoms are easily traded
for the most usual moralities,
trinkets of aspiration long held,
easily given up for a fast gain
without any pain, just the misery
of a life time of self-loathing deceived,
in a moment of blind self-forgiveness,
but without the expiation of murder
in food lines, maternity wards, schools,
where forgiveness is never cheap or clicked.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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March 9, 2022 · 1:31 pm

This Salty Tango – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Sanaa is hosting poetics with an invitation to combine three Lewis Carroll titles as subject for a poem, and to include the word candy in some form.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Carrol Crush

Photo: lorilorilo at pixabay.com

“I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” Herman Melville (Moby Dick)

This Salty Tango

A sea dirge leaking through the water,
somber, laden with lays of sorrows,
held in melancholia, carried on the wind,
seeking ears to hear the sorrow of seas,
the tide of conflict never ebbing, ever
washing over us, as we chart candy 
waters in this salty tango across every
crest in a boat beneath a sunny sky,
which sings to us of tomorrows.

Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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March 3, 2022 · 3:19 pm

Lips Of Intention – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: found at thoughtco.com Pinocchio

“Show me a liar, and I’ll show you a thief.” George Herbert

Lips Of Intention

Once, lies were kept neatly in little boxes
out of shame's way where no ruin could
transpire, never hidden, just beyond the 
glinting eye of expediency; but now, lies
roam the lips of intention openly like a 
mountebank's kiss of saccharine virtue,
always seeking to change the fit of the
narrative in velvet tongued smears of
hollowed out meaning, offered as fact 
in the disappearing moments of the day.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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February 27, 2022 · 2:49 pm

The Flicker Of Hope – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: aytekinofficial at pixabay.com

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” Aristotle

The Flicker Of Hope

The candle flickered,
dancing all over the walls
of the cave of dark times,
as if frantically gasping for
air like a ravaged runner.

We huddled round it in hope,
the ill wind whipping at our backs
and flailing our fortitude, but we 
held on, the light remaining, 
growing stronger with every
word of love gifted into the circle.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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January 15, 2022 · 11:00 pm

In Rows We Laughed – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Karl Marx

In Rows We Laughed

In rows we laughed about cromagnon man,
we mocked conquistador's self-righteous,
salvific crusade, we deplored the blindness
of modernity scratched in white across two
wars, we were sickened by greedy monarchs
crushing cultures, aghast at nationalism and
every moral injury belonging to leader and flag,
in rows we laughed taking each other for granted, 
bullying, stealing each other's things, lying, 
misogynising, fighting, shrinking, hiding,
in rows we laughed, without reflecting.



Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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October 6, 2021 · 4:11 pm

Where Now The Sword – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Sanaa is hosting poetics with an invitation to explore the genre of panegyric poetry.

dVerse Poets – Poetics

Priam Pleading with Achilles for the Body of Hector ?engraved 1775 Gavin Hamilton 1723-1798 http://www.tate.org.uk

“I’ve seen this moment in my dreams.” Hector (Iliad – by Homer)

Where Now The Sword

Galant Hector,
even under the mantle of Achilles,
you are ever the evening star,
beyond the dark sweetness of death,
where songs regale your courage
and the gods dare drink your health,
where now the arrow, where now the
sword that could spite your flesh,
no grey for your hallowed head,
ever the memory of your youth,
your integrity in death
untrammelled by Achilles.


Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

Note: Homer's (the accepted author) poetic epic the Iliad is an a mazing piece of literature. In my view Achilles cheats and acts out of rage (grief) killing Hector, then dishonours the body until begged by Priam for the return of his son Hector's body. Hector seeks honour, mercy and justice, Achilles seeks revenge.

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September 14, 2021 · 4:57 pm

Just Following Orders – prose by Paul Vincent Cannon

At Dverse Ingrid is hosting Prosery with an invitation to use a line from William Blake’s poem ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ – “If all do their duty, they need not fear harm.”

dVerse Poets – Prosery – Doing Our Duty

Public domain photo of Adolf Eichmann.

“Being evil is only something that only humans are capable of.” Jane Goodall

Just Following Orders

In 1960 an architect appeared in court in down town Jerusalem charged with crimes against humanity. He was the architect of the Holocaust, his defence was banal, he claimed immunity because he was only following orders.

Who never questions motive? Who believes they are perfect and above the law?And who never effects harm on others? But of those who excelled in following orders, no matter how perverted, Adolf Eichmann stands apart as intentionally evil, and more so because of his claim that he was just following orders. And, so, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm? really? Think slavery. Think Eichman, think Vietnam War, Think Derek Chauvin, think so many.

Our actions always affect others, and where there is evil the effect is always negative. Harm comes to those in the orbit of such people. Just listen to Holocaust survivors.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon

All Rights Reserved ®

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