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

Double Happiness!

Time passes and this family grows
We wonder if wee Haydn knows
That suddenly, he'll have to share
As Ethan and twin Blake are here!

A double dose of infant joy
These little creatures, pink and coy
Have swelled this family to five
So many legs and arms to writhe!

David - Patriarch indeed
And Hoa, loving Mum, will need
Some time to plan a schedule new
Two-for-one means lots to do!

To a topsy-turvy world they come
Pre-Christmas gifts for Dad and Mum
As excitement reaches fever pitch
There is no greater joy than this!

(c) Poet in the woods 2019



Born 6.11.2019 - Brussels

and now (2024), aged 5!

Asphyxiated!

A travelling fridge with men inside
And women too, all of whom died
A van with foreign number plates
A youthful driver, scared, who states

That help is now to no avail;
What prompted these poor souls to sail
In cramped conditions, in the dark
Where survival chances were so stark?

These perilous crossings now increase:
Vans, ferries, customs checks, police
Huge costs in lives, high danger risks
Is modern life reduced to this?

War zones, cruel tyrants, loss of hope
Desperation clings to last-chance rope
Such an exodus in peace time shocks;
More abject horror at our docks ...

(c) Poet in the woods 2019




SKY NEWS Headline: "39 Essex Lorry Deaths" 25.10.2019 The victims were Vietnamese.

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

A World Poet?

The Internet keeps a full log
So every time I'm on my blog
I see people are on line;
This is happiness – big time!

Who's looking at my blog right now?
I've had Mozambique and Curaçao
Ghana, Germany, Japan,
China, Russia, Kazakhstan

Oman, Jamaica, Singapore,
Denmark, Chile, Ecuador
Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan
Israel, Egypt, Switzerland

Morocco, Ukraine and Slovenia,
Latvia, Laos, Greece and Kenya
Barbados, Belgium, Venezuela,
El Salvador, Brazil, Australia

Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait
United Arab Emirates
Belize, Spain, Sweden, Myanmar
Finland, Fiji, Panama

Malta, Norway, Argentina
Paraguay and Costa Rica
Zimbabwe, Zambia, USA
Peru, Tunisia, the UK

Malawi, Ireland, Macedonia
Turkey, France, Macao, Mongolia,
S.A., Sri Lanka, Netherlands
India, Seychelles and Thailand

Mexico, Philippines, Albania
Italy, Syria, Romania
Canada, Jersey, Hungary,
Bangladesh and Burundi

Vietnam, Palestine, Hong Kong
Saudi Arabia, Lebanon
And many others I've left out
Bad rhyming patterns, I've no doubt...

(c) Poet in the woods 2016

Note: January 2023 - 151 countries to date!