The Fatal Flight

Enola Gay* its weapon shed
On this day: 80,000 dead
The Empire of the Rising Sun
Crushed at last, like beaten Hun.

6th of August Forty-Five
Left marks on many still alive ...
A second bomb**, a tip-toed peace
Though this was only of short lease...

The Cold War kept us on our toes
As Man is ever bellicose.
Korea, Vietnam, genocide
Names we'd so much rather hide.

Still overshadowed by this threat;
On this day we recollect
Haunted, saddened Hiroshima ...
The Atom Bomb - a tough redeemer.

The Fall-Out (in more ways than one)
Is much more deadly than the gun...

(c) Poet in the woods 2020


*The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. 

** the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 9.8.45





Hiroshima, Japan 1945

POTUS et al.

Let's hide behind an acronym
Far from poets to name names
In this murky pool we swim
Sarcasm meanwhile rears and reigns!

Stuck in our homes but oft online
We've time to think and meditate
How our world leaders spend their time:
Locked in endless health debate?

A Zorro-nation we shall be
All masked like robbers on the bus
As from confinement we break free
While the Virus laughs at us...

The use of UV-rays or bleach
To kill the pest that blights our lives
Is a Rubicon no one should reach;
Scientists all roll their eyes!

Sky News keeps us all on track
Where should we apportion blame?
Some leaders go and some come back
Once again, I make no claim ...

(c) Poet in the woods 2020



US actor Guy Williams (1924-1989) played Zorro (1957-59 TV series)

A Question of Dates?

Unexpected invitations fly
Across the globe – the stakes are high
Have PR clips in Singapore
Caused change of mind? We are not sure.

Diplomacy in a new guise
Is cautious optimism wise?
More sceptics burgeon by the hour
Yet heady are the reins of power ...

In the hands of Kim just thirty-four
While Trump tomorrow ups his score
At seventy-one the die is cast
His birthday bash will be a blast!

Kim shares with Elvis his birth date
Things start to rock and no mistake
The future is not ours to see
But exciting it will surely be!

(c) Poet in the woods 2018

Donald Trump - US President:  born 14.6.1946
Kim Jong-Un - North Korea President: born 8.1.1984

Elvis Aaron Presley - singer: born 8.1.1935

A Clash of Titans?

Sentosa Island feels the strain
Spotlights on Singapore now train
As leaders of the West and East*
Contemplate the theme of peace.

Bold emblem now lost deep in thought
The Merlion gazes round the port
Long memories halted by a truce
Conclave of demons shaken loose.

Quebec and Trudeau left behind
G7 members in a bind
Seesaw diplomacy still led
By Uncle Sam's risk-taking head.

The world's press swarm to catch the drift
Will this breed harmony or rift?
We wait with bated breath to see
How hard the Titans' clash will be...

(c) Poet in the woods 2018

* Kim Jong-Un of North Korea meets Donald Trump.

Shifting Sands

What's this I hear on radio
Politics in ebb and flow
Is North Korea in retrograde?
Should we call a Spade a Spade?

At the dizzy pace at which we go
Hope springs eternal as we know
Trump plans to travel there in May
Olympic summit underway?

Bold brinkmanship, new role of dice
Will a change of mood suffice?
Conflicting news bytes, cut-and-thrust
Time to let our rapiers rust?

We're at a turning point at last
The pundits ponder – what a task!
We hope and pray for better things
While guardian angels flap their wings ...

(c) Poet in the woods 2018

Encounters: Trump/Kim Jong Un:
12.6.2018
30.6.2019

Throwing down the Gauntlet!

The day-to-day and the mundane
Honed reflex actions, blunt routine
Have somehow dulled our once-sharp brain
Our cells go grey that once were green.

Our «What if?» game of make-believe
That focused thoughts in every mind
And drew scenarios from our sleeve
Has ceased to function - we are blind.

Now media-numbed and spoonfed fake
Enticed by click-bait to acquire
Miracle cures, or facelift take;
This modern, vapid world is dire...

Our minds are hijacked, we don't think
While doubtful leaders play their tune
Far niente is the drug we drink;
Across the globe – darkness at noon!*

Complacent, over-pampered West
Imbibing Lethe's fatal draught
Slow to react to nuclear test...
Whose politics have the last laugh?

(c) Poet in the woods 2017

* Book by Arthur Koestler (1940)

More Aftershocks ...

Hurricane Harvey sweeps the Coast
Houston Texas suffers most
The Lone Star State in deluge caught
Low-lying areas are fraught...

While Nature shows us all who's boss
A world away Japan is cross
As Kim Jong Un plays with his toys
'The Mouse Who Roared'* makes a loud noise.

Uncertainty in different spheres
Life as we know it, ends in tears
At least the sky is blue today
With no eclipse to make it grey!

(c) Poet in the woods 2017



* 1959 Film starring Peter Sellers and Jean Seberg

What Price Truth?

In this disconnected world, we fight
To understand what's real and fake
How do the Press know what to write
When vested interests are at stake?

What part do Ethics play today?
With constant deadlines to be met
Black and white soon turn to grey
The truth is difficult to get.

World «Freedom of the Press» today*
Yet in some places it is hard
To let the people have their say
Woe betide those caught off guard...

We admire those who defy dissent
Through social media or email
And refuse to toe-the-line – intent
On speaking out - for they risk jail!

Challenges beset the press
Whose raison d'être is sharing news
Truth suffers under such duress
What price the chance to air one's views?

(c) Poet in the woods 2017

* 3rd May

Peace-Time?

While lucky ones seek sun and take
A well-deserved, though costly, break
This Monday sees black clouds at noon
Heavy rain - a sense of gloom ...

The hype surrounding Easter time
With talk of peace, just does not rhyme
With warlike threats in North Korea;
A referendum creates fear...

Turks sail towards a precipice
Ahead a yawning, dark abyss?
Rifts both in the Right and Left
French Presidency with bated breath ...

Breaking News - more shock waves start
They grab the headlines and impart
Proof that the world is in a mess;
What lies ahead we cannot guess...

(c) Poet in the woods 2017