Short Searchlights Poems

A
pattern
in the sky-
new angles on
war

Ekphrasis on Searchlights by Nevenson...

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war 

 searchlights in the sky 
 bombers flying high 
 young men fly and die 
 parents and lovers cry 
war is why why why !...

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Bright
in the night
ladders of light
pools
for planes in sight

Rumble
and grumble
the roar of the guns
splatter
and cracker

Yes I was young
but the fear of the gun
lobbing from Hayes Common
protecting the Biggin
lives in the memory...

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Listen to poem:

Sunbeams breached the clouds like searchlights panning
    dark clouds looming above red sky flaming.
Lightning flashes with sharp cracks of thunder,
    as storm marches ominously closer.
The wind whips the waves up, terrifying
    the crew huddled, cowering and praying....

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An uneasy truce hovers in the air
    combatants tense, no soldier dares
  to catch a minute's sleep
    the price of that, far too steep  

  Minutes pass, they feel like hours
    searchlights flare o'er watchtowers
  The truce so far's held half a night
    soldiers curse to mask their fright......

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I look below 
Barbwire fence
Sixteen feet tall
My M-14 in hand

Locked and loaded
One round
In the chamber
Sighted in

Ready to fire
Motion on
The west wall
Sirens blaring

Searchlights spinning
I zero in
My Target
Darn woodpeckers

They never stop
Pecking 
No worries
I just sit and listen...

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