Genocide
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WARNING: this one is inspired by stories from victims of WW2 and the Holocaust, so it's a little gory.
We know freedom
Like the cockroach knows freedom:
Raw, trembling freedom.
Oh, what have I done?
I knew it was wrong,
From the start of it all.
But once night fell
The darkness swallowed
Innocence.
Light up your candles,
How hard to comprehend that sentence
“Let us take this minutes of silence to Remember”,
How deep and hard are these words to swallow
Providing good definition to all the situations
“A disastrous war will lead to our freedom.”
Or so, you say.
“There is no path. It’s the only way.”
Fight to the bitter end
Children of the lion. Biding to be free. The motherland of the people. Cries with the trees.
I see red rivers of blood
not merely puddles
You would think that this is a horror story
But this a contiguous continuous struggle
America you are a bully
Say, can you seethat the world is dyingWhat so proudly we hailedas Manifest Destiny
Was Genocideat least that's where it began.
Nazi Guards
Our tale can't tell
All prisoners here--alive in Hell
I eat the dust
She licks the floor
Just to survive--Nothing more
She's drug away
put in a room
Naked skeletons. Hollow eyes. Gnarled joints. All in line for “shower” time.
I was just following orders.
Branded like cattle. In line like sheep for slaughter. Already dead.
Content notice: Violence against people of color,
people with disabilities, trans wimmin, and gender
nonconforming people; allusion to suicide,
sexual violence, and genocide. End of content notice.
A plethora of people from everywhere have seen it unfortunately, but will they ever feel it, live it, breathe it, or know it? I know I live it and am a nominee, but have not physically endured it - thank God.
there's been another tragedy, tragedy
It's happened on the news, it's happened on social media, but people have refused
have refused to help, have refused to believe, that things are happening and it's not meant to be,
A lone girl holds her mother’s hand
“What are they doing? We have done nothing wrong.”
The next things her mother said
were sung in a lullaby song--
Sometimes,
I wake up in the middle of the night
breathless.
My lungs seem to convulse,
and each inhalation of air seems not to be
enough for each exhalation too quickly
follows.
From the ashes, we rise like Kings.
From our fallen blood, we learn to grow limbs.
WIth each broken brick we build a home.
Our fate is made in our blood and stone.
You may take our bodies,
If one child had not been taken -
had not been shot,
had not been slain -
if one more child had remained standing,
think of the heroes
she could have named.
If one child had told her stories,
Waking up in a room,
With not even a pair of shoes.
They stripped me down,
Took me from my town,
And here I awaited my doom.
This dream that haunted me often
Snow falls gently from the hazy sky,
Dancing around us like glittering faeries, lively and joyful.
The Sun smiles, her arms reaching lovingly towards us, but never reaching.
We wait in thick silenceWhile a genocide sleepsClaim to see all,When they know the leastThe mighty get mighterAnd the weak, they bendWhile we're made to sufferFor the ignorance of old men
Before reality hits you, problems are
small, issues fixable, and faults
acceptable. Everything easily
correctable.
Before reality hits you, life seems
easy; no regret no fear no pain.
Children swallowing pills Is more than a modern day trendIt's a death sentenceAlways the beginning to an end
They cover their dreams and aspirationsWith half-hearted expectations
Ashes, Ashes, they all fall to the ground
Where is God? Where is He they all cry out!
Memories branded, families not found,
"God is not with us!" Many of them shout!
A sequence of numbers etched in blue,
How can you do this?
What a monster.
My dear Miaia, so beautiful, so lively.
So perfect.
Her dark hair shone.
Her eyes sparkled like obsidian.
Her skin so soft like satin.
Everyone has it, no one thought it was contagious
Hordes of people stand with ignorance to the epidemic
Man, woman, child all murdered; it's egregious
But are we not all sick?
For we must have narcolepsy
Red tears fall from slivers in skin
No distinction from where the victims been
By the time the president went down in flames
The Hutu extremists could not be tamed
Women were raped
No man escaped
I knew the Holocaust would never be forgotten,
Jews lived nightmares and always proceeded with caution,
Legs were amputated, Wounds were made, but even in skin and bones,
The Jews kept their faith,
Scattered in the street
they lay like discarded leaves
on a spring night.
Bodies stacked high
reaching for the heavens above,
hoping God can hear
their silent cries.
They are alone now,
lately my grandmother has been practicing her english with the phrase:
no one should have to die with pain and suffering
the pencil marks bow through the pages so earnestly
POWER.
HIS VOICE CARRIED THROUGH THE CROWD.
HATE.
DISTINGUISHABLE IN EVERY SOUND.
AS HE PREACHED
THE LISTENERS BECAME ENCHANTED, HYPNOTIZED.
PULLED DOWN INTO THE WHIRLPOOL
OF HIS WORDS
1994
By: Cynthia Kangeyo
Nineteen ninety four
1-9-9-4
Mil Novecientos noventa y cuatro
It doesn’t matter which language I say it
The war was vicious
the war was sorrowful
my family ran once it began
everyone was disgusted
selfish
scared
no one knew where to go
hiding was the only option
but even that wasn't enough
They lived in darkness
Cut off from the world
They were ripped away from their homes
Locked away and never allowed to leave
Little boys and little girls cried
As families were torn apart
This is why i write, to figure things out, to question myslef, society and the world around me and ask, what drives us to madness? What is the seed planted, from which the flower blooms?
The cries of the people, the slash of the machete
How could we ignore?
The millions of bodies that lined the roads, the celebrations of the killers
How can we forget?
Africa used to be so pretty
So wild, raw, and carefree
But one day the white people came
Afrikaners and Boers laid their claim
To us, they were strange
To them, we were untamed
Steady knocks upon the doors of the town.
Lest they know the reign ascending soon there,
But the silence grew where once was viewed dear.
They were lured away with but a gown.
Hello Mommy, I'm here waiting.
You found me yesterday; this is exciting.
You don't know me yet, but I know you.
I can feel your love so strong and true.
(poems go here) I am not an emotional person.
In these last few months I have started to feel things I have been unaware of my entire life.
I have never felt so close to death, so far away from redemption.
The assault rifle bursts
Punctured the pristine façade of each and every
Window, door, and walls or the vehicle of life
Piercing the veil of false security that we all live behind
Machetes hacked away at innocent children, who had no say,
Interhamwe defiled mothers because they were told to obey,
An idea dug its nails into a country slipping away
All the while my nation watched: the good ole U.S.A
On my path, I'm headed for hell
Today, I snuck in God's house 'cause he don't know me that well
But upon entrance a preacher caught me and called me by name
He said "I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad that you came,"
millions of screaming
ghosts beg for your
attention to their
names long forgotten,
to their lives lived out long ago, in
misery and rejection
for years, just because of
a small difference
I was born out of two genocides.
The first of European colonization the destruction of my Aztec bloodline,
by my blonde hair green eyed grandfather making me Mexican,
being that I was born and raised on our fertile land...
You see the world
The red rivers
The salted puddles of cry
The innocent lost
And how it is
How leaders turn there eyes
How the world ignore
Yet one can speak
Speak for those who don't and can't
I stand upon an assembly line.
My gaze constantly wondering.
But I'm not suppose to grow curious.
“Eyes front” They bark.
Then there is a pain growing in my back
my eyes wonder again to my peers.
There are explanations.
Explanations that God keeps tucked away in a little box,
In the corner of his office.
He doesn’t even know what he wants to do with them.
No surgery
Lost limbs
Give a leg
Then ask of him,
Restore my sight
With nothing to hide
Look at this world
What do you see,
One great nation we’ve made today?
We have claimed achievement
But we must see why-
Some stories differ from side to side
Horrors and wonders have built our world
Thought to be a normal plain Jane day
Cali, Columbia in beginning of May,
uprooted and thrown like a weed in the garden.
Squealing sounds derived from son’s mouths,
waiting to be told we’re moving out.
Hiding.
Terrified.
Afraid.
Forever.
Their shadows in your dreams,
People began to scream,
Your blood runs cold.