Long Plowshares Poems

Integrity of Healthy Wealth

You have heard it said
Turn your swords into plowshares.

We, both Left and Right, echo that to add
Turn from planting bombs and bullets and barbs
to planting trees, and shrubs and carbon-infested fibers.

If our...

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"What most nourishes
and yet also entices
your active love,
your curiosity invested in achieving highest priority outcomes?
What are your outcome priorities?
Talk about the top of your deep-loving bucket list,
your plans for yourself and your loved ones
during this...

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Children of Guernica

Children of Guernica . 
 
In deserts of no mans land 
children play among the dead 
killer themes from killer kings 
what is the song they sing 
comes raining down in 
shrews of...

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There Are Sounds of Ancient Thunders
There Are Sounds of Ancient Drummers
        Calling … Brave Warriors
         Gladiators and Warriors

And They’re Marching...

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And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: 
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, 
and their spears into pruninghooks: 
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they...

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THE TEARS OF A VALIANT SOLDIER

The man coming home, used to wear
a military suit.
Man’s little older, wiser now,
not innocent … recruit.

‘Soldier his duty,” back then told, 
same told, other young men.
Told they’d travel see the...

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Deadly fissures of division ... tolerance of others’ 
different faith gathering space
is divided by hate

Almodad synagogue sadness
is the latest menorah light 
extinguished by ancient dust clouds
A shifting sky of perpetual, roiling anger ...
thundering cataclysmic crypt...

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The wind whistled a chilly tune,
As the day slipped toward a grey horizon.
Flocks of blackbirds darkened the autumn sky.
The quail's shrill call could be heard in the forests,
As the workers put their plowshares away.
The distinctive...

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Dear 2017,

I welcome you to our blessed planet earth,
from your God given and gracious abode

In a few short days, you will arrive in full armor
You will bring us winter, spring, fall, and also summer

And like...

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Here
in the yuletide
season,
today’s
peace on earth
and good will…
lay hidden somewhere
in the attic of bygone days:
wrapped in cobwebs of time.

Once considered obsolete—
hopefully benign—
malignant war
has become
the trend today;

Our war sick world, 
drunk on inebriating
negative wisdom,
has evolved into an...

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Could always feel the threat in the air,
When a bad storm was gathering fast.
Soon heavy clouds would conquer the fair,
And hold them captive in their firm grasp.

Thunder like huge kettle drums would pound,
Lightening hit with...

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Childrens of mother land!
Citizens of mother land!
I call upon you my fellow neighbours!
Hear my concern my fellow neighbours!

We heard reports about your Africans around the globe
Citizens of the world yell like monkeys when they see...

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Words as offensive weapons
dwell on ugliness of bad-humored life.

Words as effective tools
dwell on beauty and truth
of good-humored health,
empowerment,
love.

Yet, swords become plowshares.
Plowshares are repurposed as unwieldy swords.
Regenerative intent becomes degenerative chaos.
Degenerative discontent becomes regenerate
tipping points
within silent...

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Enter into the joy of the Lord                            ...

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(In memory of the 19 children and two adults killed by gun violence in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022…as well as the countless others who have and who will suffer similar fates.)

Firearm Requiem

By Mark...

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four star circus
side show of war,
thugs on a hillside
another killing floor,

greedy men squabble loudly
gulping down the poor,
coalition vacuole
futility galore,

sobbing children in the dust
silent tears like rain,
generation lost to time
born in tragic pain,

greener valleys stretch on...

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In the Hush

"It is finished!"  over, complete
Echoing in the twilight hush
On Saturday's holy ground
Breathing through candles on the Sabbath table
Slowly vibrating to a fevered breath
Strong enough to shatter stone
And melt iron tipped spears to...

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KJV: Isaiah 2:4, " ... they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:" ... by Isaiah son of Amoz re last days of Judah & Jerusalem

Insomuch, the northern rains be as...

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Weapons of Wonder

By Mark Stucky
If humans must wage war,
let it be upon our own evils.
Let there be genocide on
violence and divisiveness,
malice and indifference,
prejudice and inequity,
foolishness and falsehoods.

If humans must make weapons,
let us weaponize goodness,
arm ourselves...

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The hater with the gun,
the loafing lover
with all my fun,
may be horrid,
too florid,

And may, like me,
merely want to be effective,
a dramatic part, affective
on and in this great staged show
we share
and sometimes care to listen
and too...

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Oh! that wars may cease
Oh! that peace may reign
Oh! that men may seize
brutes who are the bane
of societal peace
so that peace and love
may never be lost
nor our fragile trust
become precarious.
May our many foes
be saved from...

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I am hopelessly hopeful
of man at last prevailing 
over animosity and fear:

mankind finally embracing,
brother to brother, kin to kin,
no sense of creed or nation; 

people living under one flag
all aboard the flagship Earth 
sailing as...

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WEAPONS of war will be beaten into plowshares
ECONOMIES will no longer depend on armories
ARMIES will be built for aid and assistance
POWER-HUNGRY leaders will study war no more
OFFENSIVE schemes will no longer be heard or seen
NATIONS...

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A mountain of some measure aligned slopes,
Silversword's statuesque uncommonness,
bikers and skiers, youth urban slang, 'dopes,'
pics of height's flowering tower upness.
Centuries of swordplay, The Word, acclaimed,
plowshares and the sorts treats its new version.
Purplish flowers are structurally...

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for KNOCK US DOWN WITH YOUR LINES Contest

How many generations have to suffer
    the stings of those who would be bigger than
          they...

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