Best Iron Curtain Poems
On the twenty fourth of February in twenty twenty two
Russia invaded Ukraine and fierce fighting did ensue
Vladimir Putin it seems, wants to restore the iron curtain
And sadly he will succeed, of that it looks certain.
Tanks and missiles, the Russians used in their attack
But against Putins thugs, brave Ukrainians are fighting back
Vladimir Putin is unhinged and he Is losing his sanity
Claiming the Ukraine is a threat, to Russian security.
He's made threats to the west, if they come to Ukraines aid
Does he honestly think that western powers are afraid
Unfortunately the Ukraine is not part of the Nato alliance
So the west introduced, heavy sanctions in defiance.
Hitting Russia with severe sanctions seems like a good idea
But it failed to stop Russian aggression, when they invaded Crimea
A lot more needs to be done though before it's too late
Or the Ukrainian people will suffer, an unspeakable fate.
The Ukrainian president has sent out a rallying cry
Ukrainians are bearing arms, and are prepared to die
The death toll will rise with casualties on either side
People are running to find safety but there's no where to hide.
Putin claimed only military targets, would be in the line of fire
But civilian apartments have been hit, Putin is a liar
There has been many deaths, some badly injured too
But they will fight to the last man, it's what they will do.
Acts of bravery the Ukrainians will always remember
Like the guards on Snake Island who refused to surrender
The Russian warship fired missiles, all thirteen men died
To me that is a war crime; those responsible should be tried.
The old days are over, the Soviet Union is long dead
Why can't Vladimir Putin get that fact in his head
Invading peaceful countries is an abominable crime
He should be charged with murder and put away for a long time.
Written 25th February 2022
The west went in guns blazing to help their fellow man
In Syria against the Islamic State and in Iraq and Afghanistan
They brought an end to a campaign of terror and a killing spree
And made the world a better place and safe for everybody.
So why in God's name is the civilised world, just standing by?
While thousands of innocent men, women and children die
What is it about Russia, that murdering terrorist state?
Are we just going to look away, leaving them to their fate?
Ukraine is running out of fresh water, they have no electricity
While the Russians carry on firing missiles, indiscriminately
And committing atrocities that would make a grown man cry
A harsh winter is fast approaching and many people will die.
Why are NATO and the civilised west worried about escalation?
While Russia carries on pulverising that peace loving nation
Enough is enough, NATO needs to put boots on the ground
And rain down hellfire on that Russian scum, round after round.
The west is sending arms and humanitarian aid to Ukraine
But dragged their feet when they requested a fighter plane
Vladimar Putin growls like a dog and the west backs away
We shouldn't listen to his rantings, he must be made to pay.
Ukraine got rid of all nuclear weapons with the fall of the iron curtain
I bet they wished that they hadn't given them up of that I am certain
Because the yellow backed Russian scum would never have invaded
And their threat to world peace would never have escalated.
Written 24th November 2022
Between an unjust war or peace, which would you choose?
Ukraine had no choice so we must ensure they don't lose
Russian thugs invaded Ukraine to reinstate the Iron Curtain
And this is only the very beginning and of that I am certain.
I know it's a big ask, the Ukrainian people asking for more
But do you really want Russian thugs banging on your door
With the west and NATO's help Ukraine are holding their own
Now is not the time for the west, to look away and disown.
NATO and the civilised world should never bow to tyranny
If we're not united against Putin he will look on with glee
Don't waver in your support of this brave and proud nation
Don't hand Putin a hollow victory for the Russian Federation.
Like most of the civilised world, Ukraine wants to live in peace
If Putin wins do ask yourself, who's next, Estonia or Greece?
We've supported the Ukrainian people from the very beginning
Only with our support have they got a good chance of winning.
It's been nearly two years now and Putin hasn't yet succeeded
Ukrainians are fighting for their lives, but more arms are needed
It is certainly not the time for our politicians to argue about cost
If they do, it will be on their heads that freedom's war was lost.
I look forward to the day when Putin is put on trial in The Hague
Who's been the cause of so many deaths, more than the plague
Don't vote for gutless politicians who want to look the other way
Only by us being totally united will we be able to make Putin pay.
Written on 28th December 2023.
Broken England
By Steven Cooke
My Brave ancestors of England,
Look away, for I offend thee.
For your England is no more.
Decay eats away at this fallen empire.
Your people divided,
Its laws weakened by Europe’s power.
Its leadership, protecting the few.
The fresh air of your Country gone,
Only the stench of anarchy remains
Heroes of The Somme look away for I offend thee.
Stock Market Parasites, take without producing
Corporations overwhelm, the weak,
Without paying their due.
Their off shore havens digest the life blood of this once great nation,
Leaving the scraps of minimum wage for the masses to beg.
The dead of Pashendale look away for I offend thee.
Government legislate to keep us in bondage to 66
Over the hill at 50, to wonder the dole queues
Youth denied education,
Universities at a price,
Qualifications for the chosen few,
Unemployment, for the poor.
Our brothers of Gallipoli look away for I offend thee.
Our Cities are in pain.
Hopeless lives, with hopeless dreams,
Hopeless choices, drugs, crime,
Or silence behind closed doors.
Babies born to fail,
Children, exposed to depression and chips.
The ghosts of Arnhem look away for I offend thee.
A voice in the darkness, shouts its rage
The iron curtain of youth descends on England
This is no Lennon revolution,
This is youth with no future, abandoned by government
No rules here to obey, No Civic pride,
No sense of History, no Country to protect
The Saviours of Goose green look away for I offend thee
But fat cats beware, for there is a dream,
That cannot be bought.
A warning from history.
A country cannot go forward,
Without learning from the past.
Your greed will self destruct
Your Paradise a lie
For a Dangerous wind now blows,
And common sense, will fail.
For England is Broken,
And life will never be the same,
In England’s green and pleasant land.
Now It is my turn to look away,
for you see this offends me too.
I'm writing this poem in the last days of 2018. The government of the United States is shut down in a fight over the building of a border wall. I am reminded of another border wall that was erected during my lifetime.
In 1961, East Germany built a wall
Of concrete, barbed wire, and steel
Ninety-six miles around East Berlin
At the cost of a bit less than four million dollars
And a bit more than 200 lives.
Intended to stem the flood of East Germans
Seeking freedom to prosper in the West.
A young and inexperienced President Kennedy
Didn't comprehend why East Germany
Needed a concrete wall
When it already had
An Iron Curtain.
In 1989 the Berlin wall was torn down in a frenzy
Of sledge hammers and bulldozers.
Only remnants of it now remain - mostly in museums.
East Germans celebrated and rebuilt their lives.
The reunited Germany flourished
And joined other nations in a united European future.
Why do we think that our wall will have a different legacy?
When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain,
because they have sinned against thee; if they
pray toward this place, and confess thy name,
and turn from their sin ...
Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the
sin of thy servants ... and give rain upon the land
1 Kings 8:35 - 36
The land is parched,
there has been no rain in over a year
The river is bone dry,
forecast says the skies will remain clear
The cattle are dying,
as are all the crops
You’re bleeding credit,
and still no sign of any raindrops
It is for certain,
a famine is afoot
The sky’s an iron curtain,
all of your savings are took
The eyes of the wife and kids,
have an empty, fatalistic look
And you cry,
because you don’t understand why
You’ve done all you can,
you even sold your best gun
Listen to the barren land,
you’ve left something undone
That holy book on the top shelf
covered in cobwebs and dust
Better open it while you’re able,
even better, in it start to trust
Although you never once
stopped praying for rain
Is it the right prayer that you’re asking?
Everyday you pray for rain,
so you can go on living
But you never asked once
to have your sins forgiven
Pray for rain
Pray for understanding
Pray for rain
Pray for forgiveness too
Go back to your first love,
your God, whom you abandoned
like an ungodly fool
Then say your prayers,
asking God to have mercy on you
>
Figures of immense reputation and popularity they were
Attracting public attention and admiration in the pursuit of their great works
Leaving behind them a legacy of some kind
But going with them their unique characters.
Wasn’t the explosion of Christianity the work of Jesus of Nazareth?
And the burst of Islam not the work of Muhammed of Mecca?
Neither will the admirable leadership of Julius Caesar;
Nor the conquests of the unlearned Charlemane,
And the military successes of Alexander the great,
Be forgotten in History.
If the British can forget Napoleon’s continental system
Jews then, would forget Hitler’s concentration camps
And history would entirely cease recalling his mentor Mussolini.
What if Carl Marx did not propound radical socialism?
Lenin then, would not have smashed the bourgeoisie and ruled Russia
Neither would the principles of Marxism-Leninism be sustained by Stalin
Nor would Churchill seal the border between the East and the West with an iron curtain.
A grave mistake it would be to forget Martin Luther King Jr.
For if he be forgotten, Mahatma Ghandi then would also be
And the entire movement of nonviolence
Will stop covering many pages of modern history books.
Had it not for Kwame Nkruma and Hastings Banda to cut the rope of colonialism
The ambitious Cecil Rhodes then,
Would have drained the whole continent of all its economic wealth.
The ascendancy of Nelson Mandela from the horizon of apartheid
Was not the beginning of Maximillien Robespierre’s reign of terror;
Characterized by avenges and reprisals
But the emergence of Abraham Lincoln’s true democracy.
What if Caesar were not butchered?
William Shakespeare then, would not have been the greatest playwright
Causing Charles Dickens and Chinua Achebe not to appear.
For the existence of a Jewish state, David Ben Gulion fought
But for the reemergence of a Palestinian state, Yasser Arafat strives.
“I remember...” an old man said,
“When the first shot rang out,
When the rebels held their stead,
The British bullets flew about,
And through our ranks they sped.”
Though soldiers fall and cannons shout,
The Flag flies proud and strong, no doubt.
“I remember…” a drummer boy said,
“When the blood of our country ran free,
When the Confederates called for forced labor's spread,
The Union fought to stem the river of slavery.”
The feud caused brothers to fight 'til one was dead,
And still at the end not many could agree,
But the Flag still stood as a symbol of liberty.
“I remember...” a young nurse said,
“When wounded and bleeding they came,
When, though to revive I tried, they died instead.”
Axis and Allies caught up in a brutal game,
Destruction, death, and ruin wide spread.
Tales of battles, wars won and lost proclaim,
The strength and power of the Flag to claim.
“I remember…” an old woman said,
“When Europe was torn in two,
Rather than peace, an Iron Curtain hung instead.”
Democracy’s goal was to subdue,
The communist leader's lofty stead.
After waiting for the verdict long overdue,
The Flag rose triumphant, great, and true.
“I remember…” an aging soldier said,
“The soon forgotten war,
When our army and the south into the north sped.
To take out our enemy we had foreswore,
But our foes were not the only ones who fled.
Though they attacked us with none to warn,
The Flag still stood, tattered and worn.”
“I remember...” a young man said,
“When they attacked us in Vietnam.
Pinned by fire, they meant to shred,
The hope of seeing home again.
Through jungle and brush we fled,
Our lives nearly lost by trap and bomb,
The Flag held its ground and force, even in 'Nam.”
“I remember…” a young, strong soldier said,
“When in the deserts of Iraq,
Upon the hornet's nest we did tread.
They swarmed on us with a counterattack,
But we stood our ground until they fled.
Though many may try to push us back,
The strength of the Flag is what our enemies lack.”
“I am witnessing...” a weary general said,
“An enemy that hides behind a mask,
One that will brutally behead,
And kill as if it is a mandatory task.
The safety of the world hangs by a thread,
And it seems the die have been cast,
But the Flag still stands strong, like it always has in the past!”
Worlds collide in my throat
as the galaxy of my heart is
torn asunder. Desperation lives
in my eyes, sweet salty sweat
pours down the avenging slippery
slopes of my brow.
Never knowing, always searching
Never finding, always lost
Lost among friends
Lost among family
Lost among myself
How I wish I could escape.
The doorbell rings
the wind chimes jingle
their dancing song against
the soothing wind.
I listen, I hear, I obey
I smell the fragrance
of the incense of my heart
burning, yearning to rise to
the highest potential, the ceiling
fan at least. To be caught
up with the current of the
arms outstretched, to over-
throw all other senses
I lift and spin
losing all of my consciousness
in a looping track of
ecstasy.
The most joyful dance, the
most joyful longing. To be
set free amongst
green fields, golden beaches,
red bricks, white snow
clear blue sky. The Red-
Bird of my heart is crying
to be set free. It's longing
to be separated from that
Iron Cage, The Iron Curtain
against the soul of freedom
It wants to fly higher and
higher, to soar and spin
to stretch its wings with
the other birds. It knows
Externally it is the same
as the others and yet
Internally it is different
from the others. He has
that slight spark of
a reality that is completely
him. That is unique from
the others. It wants to
share, to experience this
freedom, all the time. It
yearns to be free to be
itself no matter where
it flies, not having to
choose its pecking ground.
To laugh and to live with
the other birds, with
the Crows, Bluejays and
Pigeons and be seen
as an equal. But alas
they will never accept
his song nor its
flight pattern. Internal
spark has to be concealed.
Back to the Cage it
goes, back to limitation
and longing. Back to
the feelings of false-
security. It wants to
be free, so it has collisions
in the throat and galaxies
of heart torn asunder. Desperation
in the eye and sweet salty sweat
pouring down avenging slippery
slopes of brows.
Memories
become sand full of hourglasses.
One thousand snowflakes are one thousand dead cats in the Hudson River.
Memories hurt.
They are Michael Schofield broken out of prison.
Prison is the look on your father’s face.
We had the same face. I used to remember him being younger.
Once he was James Dean going bald and with a cause.
Now he is the weeping willow pretending to be a Christmas tree.
Trees are ebony towers to admire. They take the place of hands, and lips and voices. Sometimes they can speak but only when you aren’t listening.
I hear ghosts I met a long time ago. Their voices mix like bad wine.
They have a lot to say to somebody else.
Words
were daggers but became backfiring nunchucks.
Painting mosaics is more like scribbling outside the lines.
A car with no brakes and no gas.
An automatic pistol being fired by your shadow, armed with toothpaste ammunition. Nothing adds up because math can’t help.
Lithium is the iron curtain to save the free world.
Conversations are only permitted in dolphinese in the broken dunk tank.
Words twist like ivy at Wrigley Field and taste like blood if you impede upon traffic.
Fifty two card pick up and “will you marry me” mean the same thing.
She had no words for either of me, even if I remembered.
Mirrors
are grown in fields on the dark side of the moon.
They are sold to the vain but crawl into the vein.
They shout at jet takeoff volumes.
We use them as search engines even though they don’t have Wi-Fi.
They are the jealous, condescending friend we have to put up with.
A high school dropout who prefers to lean on a wall and do nothing.
Mirrors were made to be smashed. They deserve to go to hell but never do.
They join their cousins the broken beer bottles from West End in a cozy hole
where they can make out with nuclear sludge and give birth to North Korea.
Then they can go on vacation to the beach where they grew up
and create memories that disappear.
He told me who I was and wasn’t without speaking but he was wrong.
Now he won’t look at me and neither will she.
Two-dimensionalism is bliss.
Winston Churchill- the Tailor
chose material, designed fashion
Franklin D Roosevelt- the Weaver
later wove success with Marshall magic
Joseph Stalin- the Color Master
painted the Curtain with blood of soldiers
Adolf Hitler- the Spirit
provided living fear among architects
Victims- the haunting ghosts
precaution never to resurrect from the dead
The world- the watchman
soon fell asleep allowing war without war
So it happened in aftermath
with organic fabrics exhausted, metals served
with professional clothiers on imaginary strike
willing blacksmiths were readily available
Iron Curtain was built in haste
to erect durable peace, security outside the heart
Vision is shadowy; I choke the steering wheel with knuckles turned white
the shifty roads are blanketed with fresh powder, day has fallen into night
a small oval portion amongst a foggy windshield was my view
traction became lost, tires slid, there was nothing I could do
I prayed to God that He would keep me safe from any harm
He must have heard because I spun out and landed in a tree farm
the skeletal infant trees did not stand up against my brawny Range Rover
if I had struck a mature oak or maple, surely it would have been game-over
once my trembling core ceased to a manageable state
I was taken aback by a heavy rod iron gate
not two seconds before, an open field of trees lied ahead
against my better judgment, slowly I decided to tread
uneasy, I glance over my shoulder to ensure my car is still there
if a gate could unexplainably appear, I feared a car could dissolve in thin air
I am impressed and terrified at the magnitude of what stood before me
I pressed my face up against the icy frame and gasped at what I did see
children; small children not aged more than eight
simultaneously detected They had a visitor at the gate
robotically, as if on cue, They began to drift toward me
cloaked in robes of slate, I fixated on a child wearing a key
the piece that hung from his neck flickered as if it were on fire
with a green stomach, I knew my situation was off-colour and dire
I attempted to address Them but all that escaped was my breath in the icy air
in chorus They froze – countless eyes offered nothing but a vacant stare
I wondered how long They had been locked up for and why
my thoughts were interrupted by a small girl’s haunting cry
my eyes searched frantically to see where the ominous iron curtain went to
my mouth tapped dry when I learned it was I, who was caged, like an animal at the zoo
anxiously I turned around when They became engrossed with something behind me
large yellow eyes cut through the darkness and my demise was all I could see
I was trapped. In order to survive I had to acquire possession of that key …
april 25, 2012
Diana-Marie Bombardieri
for Gail's CONTEST - Stranded 0r a Ghost story
Children of the iron curtain
Stripped of God from birth,
Crawling on a toothless wall -
Question marks on compass.
Chicks growing colored wings,
Door unlocked - unable to believe
Sunrise doesn't come with bars
For those who can still fly...
No man's land - unable to catch roots,
Holograph of gardens back home
Tended by parents with disrupted movements,
Tears muffled on the California coast...
Children of the iron curtain...
Each sunset gathers them on beaches
Champion chess players of their fate
Stop and salute me as I drive along
alone...
check the definition of "The Iron Curtain"
‘Ossi’, what Western side likes them to call,
East returning complements with ‘pushy’,
No more stands there the brick-and-mortar wall,
Love’s lost still in old animosity.
The wall o’er a decade and half back fell,
Yet, an iron curtain still them divide,
Minds cannot meet over the wall of pride,
Hurt heart and prejudice can’t that gulf scale.
‘I’d rather a spouse from a foreign shore
‘Bring than one from behind iron curtain,’
Felt one from across the long secured door,
Deep and wide does divide decades of pain.
Here lingers a dislike, there disdain old,
What venom brethren nurse for each other!
An open war has turned into one cold,
Togetherness in search of fair tether!
‘Too hot’ for us these women from the West,
‘Hard to please, pushy, far too material,
‘Everything about them seems commercial,
‘From old world do we come and too modest’.
‘Too darn dense be these people from the East,
‘Lacking any a style whatsoever,
‘Forever on a bargain-hunting heist,
‘Let them savour their old odious flavour’.
Wall was felled to enable two-way flow,
Heads still finds it hard to communicate,
Bridges and trains, mutual dialogue to grow,
Yet, hard it is distanced hearts to placate.
Love and passion when at a premium come
In too short a period of years fifteen,
Old prejudices play a harder drum,
Not easy 'tis long-closed closets to clean.
World has its Kashmir, long-gulfed Koreas too,
And torn-apart people elsewhere a few,
A healer great, mighty teacher is time,
If not today, morrows may sing in rhyme.
______________________________________________________
The Berlin Wall came down some 15 years back on 9th November1989. But the iron curtain continues to divide the two people that history separated. Only two per cent of marriages every year are between the East and the West Berliners, which under normal conditions should have brought together one-third to half of the couples in a city its size. Yet, they are 12 times more likely to marry foreigners. After the wall fell, there came the euphoria only to die soon. A lingering dislike persists between the two sides. Yet, in all fairness 15 years is too short a period to mitigate the wounds inflicted by 60 years of separation. Time, let us hope, will prove a great healer that it is.
______________________________________________________
Happenings | 01.11.04 |
The Iron Curtain
She wears a dress of sweetest
pink
Planting diamonds dime a
dozen
Atop her rooftop garden
Leaving pails of gold redundant
If she'd had any
In the dark, now on her bed
Nothing to do but wail and cry
Nothing but to wait to die
Thinking of the better times
If she'd had any
She sits, she sits, behind the
walls
And iron curtains, iron doors
Behind, the dreams she keeps
from me
The thoughts and smiles I long
to see
The stars, the stars that form in
eyes
Tentative to be despised
But refrain? Then you'll receive
In the Lord's eyes, victory.
O'er men that claim to be.
She sits, she sits, behind the
walls
And iron curtains, iron doors
Behind, the dreams she keeps
from me
The thoughts and smiles I long
to see
In her heart, only fear
In her mind, only white
In her soul, only beauty
That we'd seen in a long-
forgotten dream
She sits, she sits, behind the
walls
And iron curtains, iron doors
Behind, the dreams she keeps
from me
The thoughts and smiles I long
to see
The love and soul I wait to see