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The Fault Line

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For Anthony Slausen's 'The Fault Line' poetry contest.

The fault line streamed from the Nazi state, The Jewish Shoah, Holocaustic fate. Mongolia, Croatia, and Belarus, Humanity had no excuse. Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan, The full scope of terror's sad sway, In Cambodia they pointed their fingers To where the horrid 'Killing Fields' lay. The dire purges in Mother Russia, by the brutal Stalinist guild, Ancient Turkey, the Ottoman Empire, so many Armenians killed, And legions of Greeks to their deaths there went, Assyrians too, until nearly spent. The fault line leaves remains that burn, We see them ever, and then, The hard way is how we have to learn, Over and over again. The fault line runs on steel rails across the "American" land, A tomb, a gloom, an iron doom, for my wife's native band.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2016




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Date: 1/2/2017 8:40:00 PM
"In Cambodia they pointed their fingers To where the horrid 'Killing Fields' lay" Love these lines. This poem is very enjoyable reading out loud, not only for the story told but for the way the words feel when spoken.
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Doug Vinson
Date: 1/3/2017 7:47:00 AM
Hi Carolyn. Thank you!
Date: 12/9/2016 8:05:00 PM
This is very good, Doug, a lot of terrible things that have happen and still going one. Congratulations on your win.. :) Hugs Eve
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Doug Vinson
Date: 1/3/2017 7:47:00 AM
Thanks, Eve. It feels rather odd - to be writing a poem that you want to be "good," about bad things...
Date: 12/9/2016 4:30:00 PM
Very well written, Doug. Congratulations on your placement in the contest.
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Doug Vinson
Date: 12/9/2016 6:06:00 PM
Cheers, Janis. Here's to peace like your white flower.
Date: 12/9/2016 12:43:00 PM
We never seem to learn. Great poem! Congrats! :-)
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Doug Vinson
Date: 12/9/2016 1:19:00 PM
Thanks, Mark. Yes, the bad overwhelmings of the moment, the day, the years - seem to take precedence.
Date: 12/9/2016 12:38:00 PM
Great win, Doug!
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Doug Vinson
Date: 12/9/2016 1:14:00 PM
Gracias, amigo. I went outside and fired guns into the air, but I don't have any guns, so it was metaphorically.
Date: 12/9/2016 12:31:00 PM
Congratulations Doug :)
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Doug Vinson
Date: 12/9/2016 1:12:00 PM
Thank you, Heidi. Not long ago today, I read your poem 'If Only,' and indeed - we should put our differences aside. Though what a tall order that is, I fear.
Date: 12/9/2016 10:49:00 AM
So powerfully expressed, Doug. Your historical 'fault lines' leave scars deeper than the physical ones. Congratulations on your podium placement in this Premiere Contest! Sandra
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Doug Vinson
Date: 12/9/2016 12:49:00 PM
Cheers, Neighbor. In a great and pleasurable company I am. : )
Date: 12/6/2016 7:59:00 AM
Speechless, no words to articulate how truly affecting this is!
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Doug Vinson
Date: 12/6/2016 8:45:00 AM
Lots of history that leaves one feeling : / Thanks for reading, Paloma!
Date: 12/4/2016 3:18:00 AM
Doug, is your wife involved with any of the current goings-on, like Standing Rock?
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Doug Vinson
Date: 12/4/2016 9:07:00 AM
No, Christina, nothing like that. Her mom is Mohawk, from the very top of New York state, right on the border with Canada.
Date: 11/29/2016 2:56:00 PM
Your writing speaks truth. Throughout history and even today, that fault line runs so very deep. Great job, though, on a deep topic :)
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Doug Vinson
Date: 11/29/2016 3:12:00 PM
Thanks, Leileah. To dwell on such things.... Ah, but I guess there is time for that. You have one of the most beautiful names I have ever seen.
Date: 11/29/2016 10:55:00 AM
Thought provoking. Corruption and greed should be sought out and eliminated. If not, we shall never succeed and be happy and in the process our beautifully unique, awesome, irreplaceable planet will be destroyed. Then over aeons of time, perhaps, we shall be consigned to history as another 'dead' planet. Maybe, civilisations have existed similarly on these so called 'dead' planets who have, over their evolution, sadly failed to co-exist in love and harmony.
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Doug Vinson
Date: 11/29/2016 11:27:00 AM
Hey Theresa. Indeed, I think that our end may be a bad one. We're good at procrastinating and not doing much until our backs are against the wall. However, when we finally are really pressed, when there's no easy place to go, we're capable of some mighty good action.
Date: 11/29/2016 10:02:00 AM
It is a work for all seasons.Congrat. It is like reading a history of world. An Australian author wrote also about management of human resources in which it is explained how philosophy, logic, even Ethics with great expectations in reason, actually may be manipulated by interests. To avoid this it is necessary to have a real respect for life. Principles (explainations, arguments, idols even ideals ) cannot be more important than life. Rhymes like burn and learn I also focus.
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Doug Vinson
Date: 11/29/2016 10:47:00 AM
Greetings, Ovidiu. I fear there is little that cannot be corrupted. On the plus side, some people have been saying that for thousands of years. Yes, agreed - "a real respect for life" is needed. I think that starts with seeing others of different places, religions, etc., as people, truly as people. Reading their poetry helps.
Date: 11/29/2016 8:47:00 AM
"Humanity had no excuse" - what a great line. This is well-written and so true. Great use of rhymes. I enjoyed it.
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Doug Vinson
Date: 11/29/2016 10:42:00 AM
Blessings upon you, Alona; I'm grateful. While not much of a violent life, I wonder what things I should have excuses for. Oh, there are a bunch, and in the end I really don't see any excuses.
Date: 11/29/2016 4:42:00 AM
I agree with Demetrios ... a glaring fault line everywhere you have drawn our notice to ... great job ...
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Doug Vinson
Date: 11/29/2016 5:49:00 AM
Thank you, Probir. I am resistant to writing that which is purely a lament, but poetry allows us to specialize for a moment, to lean all the way over to one side.
Date: 11/29/2016 3:34:00 AM
Tears you brought into my eyes, my brother, with your supreme verses full of love and concern! God bless you dear Doug! A huge seven.
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Doug Vinson
Date: 11/29/2016 3:57:00 AM
Ah my new friend, and what a good friend you are. Demetrios, I thought of you as I wrote the poem, you in Greece and with your knowledge of history and the human condition. For you I wish the love of flowers, the peaceful day, and on that day that all lost children are returned home.

Book: Reflection on the Important Things