Still of a recent pro-Hamas march in London ‘London, 11-11-2023’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society November 11, 2023 Culture, Poetry 45 Comments . London, 11-11-2023 As wreaths of poppies roar in rebel red Commemorating all our noiseless dead, The streets of London buzz with blatant hate Inflamed by fiends who have a lust to sate— That ferrous gush splashed in the name of peace. Greed knows the jaws of war will never cease To shred the flesh of soldiers sold a lie By demons growing rich as angels die. The moon-blenched bones pile up in pits of woe While fat cats rake in heaps of blood-drenched dough And city police kowtow to those who lack Respect for Britain and her Union Jack. __How can we honor those who died at war __If history has no value anymore? . . Susan Jarvis Bryant has poetry published on Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Light, Sparks of Calliope, and Expansive Poetry Online. She also has poetry published in TRINACRIA, Beth Houston’s Extreme Formal Poems anthology, and in Openings (anthologies of poems by Open University Poets in the UK). Susan is the winner of the 2020 International SCP Poetry Competition, and has been nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Trending now: 45 Responses Joseph S. Salemi November 11, 2023 This sonnet has a thematic twist in it — it expresses anger over the interruption of the due honors to Britain’s war dead, but it also expresses a very intense anti-war feeling. I don’t say that these two things are incompatible, but they do present a momentary difficulty to the reader. It may be that the short space of a sonnet’s fourteen lines prevent a more explicit statement that could reconcile this conflict. The phrases “That ferrous gush” and “moon-blenched bones” are brilliant. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 11, 2023 Joe, thank you very much for your perspicacious reading of my sonnet. You are spot on with your observations and I thank you wholeheartedly for them. This was a tough one to write, and I fail to express myself with clarity… but, I myself am not clear as to exactly what and how I feel. This is what I know: I am not anti-war. My grandfather fought in WWII. He knew exactly what we were fighting for and who we were fighting against. I am anti-establishment. The government in the UK has turned on its citizens, to the extent that it’s pursuing lawsuits against retired military men. I don’t trust the government’s reasons for war… “weapons of mass destruction” was one helluva whopper and the war in the Ukraine, and the blowing up of the Russian pipeline are a mess. It seems our soldiers are being used as pawns in a game of propaganda whereby the only winners are those lining their pockets. Never before have I felt this uncertainty and loathing for those in power, especially after the evil exit in Afghanistan. How can I agree to the wars we are fighting when I don’t even trust the government to serve its own people. History is being rewritten before our eyes, and we have barely any freedoms left to fight for… they’ve all been willingly given away… without a fight. So yes, if my sonnet spells confusion, it’s because the author is confused. Does it still work? I’ve no idea, I just had to say it. Reply Phil L. Flott November 11, 2023 Susan: Everything so well said. I was shocked to read that things over there are equally bad as things over here, in USA. Susan Jarvis Bryant November 11, 2023 Thank you, Phil. I have just returned from a trip to England, and I am sorry to say, I am shocked at the changes, and none of them are for the better. In fact, the world we live in now would be unrecognizable to my late grandparents… I’m glad they’re not here to see how we’ve squandered the freedoms they fought for. James Sale November 19, 2023 Yes, Joe, and so is the concluding couplet and that plaintive last line. Fabulous work, Susan. And BTW, it’s a nightmare being in the country where the hostility unfolds. I was in London 2 days after the event – going to the dogs is the expression that springs to mind! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 19, 2023 James, thank you very much for your appreciative words on my poem. As for my beloved homeland… how dreadfully sad. “Going to the dogs” is right. It’s happening here too. Perhaps it’s because that septuagenarian warmonger and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Tony bLIAR, is still a key global figure in the Middle East. Oops… one would have thought that after those WMD whoppers dripping from his lying lips, his mission for peace and prosperity would have been shut down. Julian D. Woodruff November 11, 2023 Confused, Susan? But aren’t we all? We must be more benighted now than at any point in human history. At least we can be confident and grateful that you’re not–admitting and demonstrating confusion aside–in the growing crowd intent on sowing it. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Julian, yes… I think we’re all a tad confused by design… and you’re absolutely right when you say I am not intent on sowing confusion. Clarity is my aim… if I’m unclear about something, it’s because I’m genuinely baffled. In this case, I’d like to believe what I hear from supposedly reputable sources, but my trust is at an all time low. For example, Netanyahu did a deal with Bill Gates and sold his people to a medical experiment that doesn’t pass the Nuremburg-Code sniff test. How can he be trusted to defend his people? Reply Rohini November 11, 2023 Brilliant and biting in its truth. As always you are marvellous. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Rohini, thank you very much indeed! Reply Jeff Eardley November 12, 2023 Susan, we are all sick of this conflict going on at what should be a more reflective time. Yesterday, we had English drunken thugs battling the police as open antisemitism was parading through the streets of the Capital. My parents would have been horrified. What on earth is going on? Hope you take home a few happy memories of Olde Englande. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 We also have many Hamas supporters on the streets of London calling for Jihad… I cannot believe our laws have been bent to allow such a march on Remembrance Day. Terroristic threats are not “free speech”… they’re arrestable offences. As for the “English drunken thugs battling the police”… I hope they weren’t high on the Old Tom 😉 Old Tom seems to have a lot to answer for. Reply Brian A. Yapko November 12, 2023 This is a poem of great angst, Susan, which contrasts respect for history with the horrors of current actions and attitudes. Your poem expresses despair and loathing for those who know neither respect nor history and who now shout the loudest, abetted by venal opportunists. It’s unnerving and your poem captures exactly that. Sad to say, war will never end. Nor should it if it means submitting to evil. In the end, this is who we are, the good and the bad, the valorous and the heinous. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Brian, thank you for your appreciation of my words and for your wisdom. You are right when you say that war will never end. You are also right when you say, “In the end, this is who we are, the good and the bad, the valorous and the heinous.” I know I would fight for my friends and family with every ounce of my strength and breath… I just don’t trust a government who thinks its citizens are terrorists just because they challenge the education system and medical authorities. Any decision they make on war bothers me. Reply LTC Roy E. Peterson November 12, 2023 Brilliant reflections on war and what now passes for peace in both our degraded societies. Wars on earth will never cease. All we can do it prepare for them and now have to worry about whether our country deserves the sacrifice of our people in military ventures, when it is in need of change and redemption. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Thank you very much for your observations and for your service, Sir. I appreciate your comments… I just don’t believe our soldiers are being prepared for the sort of wars we’re embroiled in at the moment. No young man or woman can ever be fully prepared for war… but, surely soldiers should be able to trust the government to remove them from a dangerous country safely when a war is over? I believe we have forever wars on our doorstep… the money-grubbing fat cats dictate our fate in days where citizens are treated like cattle. Reply Hari Hyde November 12, 2023 Your sonnet impressively paints today’s chaotic emotions in fiery ferrous red. I’m reminded of the bleak wisdom of John Adams: “It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, “whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection,” and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever.” Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Mr. Hyde, thank you for this thought-provoking comment. John Adams was a philosophical gentleman of wisdom – it’s a pity such beliefs are trodden beneath the bullying boots of those in charge. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 I wrote the poem below (published on Expansive Poetry Online) some time ago, but my thoughts remain the same. I believe the governments of the Western world are at war with their own citizens. We fight for other countries while our citizens are subjected to draconian rule. This leads me to think I ought to follow the money… when ethics are tossed out of the window, there’s always fat wads of cash on the horizon. This old poem might put my latest poem into clearer perspective: WAR Your history in this world is writ in blood – The blood of men of battlefield and trench Whose grit and guts were swallowed up in mud. Such gallantry has faded with the stench Of mettle, sweat, and putrid rotting flesh. You’ve ditched your axe and spear and bayonet – Your barbarous acts of butchery are dead. Your guns and gas gave way to something fresh – A craven age of slavish etiquette; A world where verve and valiance have fled. Today you will not stir for kith and kin. Today your ire won’t fire tenacious veins. Instead, you’ve turned your hawkish focus in On citizens the fickle devil names. To fight for all our hearts hold close and dear (Our family, our country, and our friends) Is frowned upon as patriarchal greed – A heedless deed that draws your scornful sneer. This is where our symbiosis ends. You’re in the grip of Satan’s wicked creed… You’re allied with the demons of the sphere. You’ve tortured truth and trampled on our trust. You’ve gagged us, locked us up, and fed us fear. You’ve seen our dreams and businesses go bust. You’ve slaughtered hope. Some cannot cope. They hang Their heads and weep as woeful spirits die. You’ve slammed our sex, our culture, and our skin Without the boom of bomb blasts from a gang Of soaring war dogs blazing in the sky… You are the beast we kindly welcomed in. Reply Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 I really like this poem too. It’s spot on and said with your usual skill… especially “You are the beast we kindly welcomed in.” Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Thank you, Josh. I really believe we are in the midst of a very different kind of war at the moment… one some are only just beginning to understand, me included. Mike Bryant November 12, 2023 Susan, as always, you let your heart and its honesty shine with this beautifully written, inward looking piece. Truly, Susan, “history has no value anymore” and the reason that is does not… it has been rewritten by the CIA and the entire military/medical/industrial complex. The recent news has been “shaped” by the powers that be. It is a bit easier to discern the truth here in the USA as we have a robust citizen journalist establishment. Speaking of history… I wonder how many people have fallen for these most recent attempts at rewriting history. How many recent mainstream media hoaxes did you fall for? – Russian collusion – 2020 Election most secure in history – Trump called neo-nazis “fine people” – If you get vaccinated you won’t catch COVID – Jussie Smollett – Bubba Wallace garage pull – Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation – Covington kids – Governor Whitmer kidnapping plot – Chinese weather balloon – Kavanaugh rape – Trump said drinking bleach would fight COVID – Russia bombed their own pipeline – Trump pee tape – COVID lab leak was a conspiracy theory – Border agents whipped migrants – Trump saved nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago – Steele Dossier – Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan – Muslim travel ban – Andrew Cuomo showed the best COVID leadership – Ghost of Kyiv – Trump built cages for migrant kids – al-Baghdadi was an “austere religious scholar” – Trump overfed Koi fish in Japan – Trump tax cuts benefited only the rich – Cloth masks prevent COVID – An SUV killed parade marchers – Trump used teargas to clear a crowd for a bible photo – Don’t Say Gay was in a bill – Putin price hike – Ivermectin is a horse dewormer and not for humans – Mostly peaceful protests – Trump overpowered secret service for wheel of “The Beast” – Officer Sicknick was murdered by protesters – January 6th was an insurrection – Trump mocked a reporter’s disability – Trump thinking that Stealth Bombers were literally invisible (Added 11/16/23… thank you, Paul A. Freeman!) These have ALL been proven to be lies. If you still believe them, you are still in the grips of the current tyrannies. Don’t simply sing louder to cover the terrible truths. Reply Joseph S. Salemi November 12, 2023 Don’t forget the Tawana Brawley hoax, and the ginned-up hysteria over George Floyd, a career criminal with a huge rap sheet. Reply Mike Bryant November 12, 2023 I think Tawana Bradley was just practice for the CIA and the Mockingbird Media scam that has been fully instituted. George Floyd is definitely the most unlikely martyr ever. The autopsy proved it was NOT murder. The really terrible thing, though, is that every single news story is now squeezed to fit the “bad white people” or “bad Christian” or “guns are bad” or any one of the ridiculous narratives that happen to be the current thing. And what’s even worse is that there are actually people out there that will buy… and SELL the garbage that is being pushed. Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 All of leftism is a lie. Why would anything they say not be a lie? I’ve actually found that to be an extremely reliable method of determining the truth: if the left believes and teaches it, it is a lie. Ordinarily I would not go for that kind of thinking (in most circumstances, that’s the “genetic fallacy”), but leftism itself exists entirely in opposition to all that is good, holy, and true. Reply Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 Just to be clear, I don’t mean every single statement every leftist has ever made. I’m talking about leftism itself and the ideas handed down by our leftist overlords. Joseph S. Salemi November 13, 2023 Leftists often have good tactical ideas, about how to advance a viewpoint or gain political influence. But in order to make real use of such ideas, one has to disabuse oneself of Categorical Imperatives, religious scruples, and squeamishness. This is why the right tends to be at a disadvantage in politics. We’re too goddamned nice. It’s time to start re-reading Machiavelli. Joshua C. Frank November 16, 2023 I’m starting to agree with you more and more on that one after what happened in Israel. That was the last straw on a lot of things. Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Thank you for these reminders of the lies – so many lies, so much confusion, so much skullduggery from authorities and the mainstream media… why on earth would anyone trust the judgment of those who have continually got it wrong… so very, very wrong for so very, very long? Reply Paul A. Freeman November 16, 2023 Has an excuse been made up yet for Trump thinking that Stealth Bombers were literally invisible? Reply Mike Bryant November 16, 2023 President Trump said, “(The F-35 is) the greatest fighter jet in the world, as you know, by far. Stealth. Totally stealth. You can’t see it. Makes it very difficult. I was asking a pilot, ‘What do you think is better: This one? This one? That one?’ Talking about Russian planes, Chinese planes. He said, ‘Well, the advantage we have is you can’t see it.’ So when we’re fighting, they can’t see us. I say, ‘That sounds like a really big advantage to me.'” Who said the plane is invisible… the pilot. Of course it is invisible to radar. Any thinking person knows what the pilot is talking about… well… almost any thinking person. Popular Mechanics sums up the article by saying, There’s a clear misunderstanding here. Trump flat-out says the plane is invisible, but no matter your opinion of the president, it’s extremely doubtful he thinks the plane is truly invisible to the naked eye. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a33658771/trump-keeps-saying-the-f-35-is-invisible/ Who, indeed, is reaching here? Just one more blatant lie to add to SCP’s archives… Thank you, Paul, for adding to the increasing list of lies above. Joseph S. Salemi November 16, 2023 Exactly, Mike. Another one of Paul A. Freeman’s attempts to dig up some meaningless little point to cause trouble here. The pilot said it, not Trump. And even the pilot’s words can be taken as mere hyperbole. I wonder what Paul will say about the cache of arms, ammo, rockets, flak jackets, and battle gear found in that hospital in Gaza, after Hamas and the hospital staff screamed that the place was not a military headquarters. Can those lies (with photographs) be written off as hyperbole? Joshua C. Frank November 16, 2023 I would expect him to defend Hamas given how he was silent about the Israel poems for a week and then lambasted you for your Columbus poem. Cheryl Corey November 12, 2023 When I read the line, “While fat cats rake in heaps of blood-drenched dough”, it immediately brought to mind hearing a certain Senate “leader” who recently said that war was good for the economy. How sick is that? Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Exactly Cheryl. It’s sick beyond belief. It also tells us the primary reason for most wars… they’re good for the financial betterment of warmongers with shares in bloodshed. Reply Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 Susan, this is great. All of it is good, but I especially love the closing couplet. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Josh, the closing couplet is exactly how I feel. Our forefathers fought in wars to prevent exactly what is happening now, and we refuse to see it. History has been rendered meaningless to many… sadly. Thank you for your kind comments. Reply Martin Rizley November 14, 2023 Susan, Thank you for this gripping poem, which as Dr. Salemi points out, may seem contradictory, for on the one hand, it laments the lack of proper honor shown to those who died in wars aimed at the defeat of patent evils– such as Nazi expanionism– while on the other hand, it laments the hypocrisy and lying propaganda of the “fat cats” that often send young soldiers into battle, so as to profit personally from their deaths. Wars are events that seem to bring out the best and worst in human beings. They are occasions of great heroism and self-sacrifice while at the same time drawing out the basest of human passions and depravity. One of the things that make wars so painful is the amount of suffering and distress that they cause among the civilian population who, even when they are not the intended target of bombings, air attacks, etc., are so often wounded or destroyed as “collateral damage” in a time of war. Nevertheless, among all this confusion and seeming moral ambiguity, my sympathy in a time of war will always rest with the heroic soldier who is fighting with one motive in mind– to protect, in whatever degree is possible, the lives of the innocent, especially, the people of his own nation and family from violent aggressors who deliberately target the innocent and revel in bloodshed, murder, torture and barbarity. Nihilistic, genocidal organizations that actively seek endless conflict and endless war in the name of a fanatical cause must be resisted, and to that, sadly, defensive war is necessary. But it is always lamentable and never to be glorified, though the heroic solidier who does his duty to secure the rule of law and the safety of the innocent, must be honored for his sacrifice. In saying that, I guess I am saying that I do believe the “just war” theory is valid– but even though participation in war may at times be justified, even just wars are lamentable and sad, because of the loss of life they always involve. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 14, 2023 Martin, thank you so much for your considered comment. I especially appreciate you stating that your “sympathy in a time of war will always rest with the heroic soldier” – I agree. But shameful circumstances today dictate that our heroic soldiers are treated like scum by their government who sues retired military men, doesn’t afford them the proper healthcare required when returning from war, and (even worse) leaves soldiers and their families behind in dangerous territory because those at the top have decided to pull out without a humane plan… and what about the homeless soldiers? No wonder there are few signing up to fight for a country that has no sympathy for heroic soldiers. That’s why I question war. Also, we are fighting a war in the Ukraine to secure their borders against Russian invasion while we have masses of unknown, undocumented military-aged men pouring into our borderless country without question. This is why I’m confused. Reply Martin Rizley November 15, 2023 I totally agree with your distrust of a government that shows such disregard for the welfare of those who fought in the nation’s defense and for the safety and security of its own citizens, as revealed by the fiasco in Afghanistan and the erasure of border security by the present administration. I understand that so much of what we see in the news is propaganda with a self-seeking agenda, thanks to the billionaires with a God-complex who are funding the propaganda machine. So we must be discerning. Having said that, I have to admit that in the present conflict in Palestine, it does appear to me that the level of sheer barbarism displayed in the attacks by Hamas on Jewish families, and the promise made by the leaders of Hamas of similar attacks in the future, really leaves no option but for the Israeli military to pursue the complete annihilation of that organization, along with its subterranean infrastructure–if they have the military capability of doing so– with a determined resolve at nothing less than a complete regime change in Gaza. It is unspeakably tragic, but I ask myself, what alternative is there, under the circumstances? I really can see no option but to go “all out” in liquidating Hamas, or to retreat to a position of being “sitting ducks” waiting for the next round of beheadings, burnings and baby murders. Susan Jarvis Bryant November 15, 2023 Martin, thank you for returning to this conversation with sensible and sagacious words I (for the most part) agree with. My confusion lies in the fact that the Western world governments have allowed staunch supporters of Hamas to demonstrate on the streets of world capitals with terroristic threats that were allowed to fly on a day when people were honoring their dead soldiers. In America, citizens have been subjected to beatings and killings by BLM, the self-declared Marxist organization linked with Antifa who demonize the police and white people, and a willful blind eye has been turned by the authorities. School and college children are being shamed and murdered because they are white. Our soldiers are being treated as if they are sub-human, yet no one acknowledges this publicly. What is happening in Israel is evil, and we should call it out loudly and clearly… yet, we have evil stalking our streets. Evil ready to erupt into a bloodbath if it goes unchecked, yet to talk detrimentally about the supporters of Hamas is held up for ridicule and quashed as if the citizens of the Western world are worthless idiots who know nothing. This is why I am skeptical about all the government declares right and good. Dave Whippman November 15, 2023 Susan, as always you write well. The poem does kind of change tack half way through, but I think you get away with it. Your line about the police kowtowing was poignant for me, though in general I support them. But it sickened me to see them arresting a guy for waving the Union Jack, while hamas supporters screaming “Gas the Jews!” (sic) were given a free pass. OK, you could say that as a Jew, I have a dog in this fight; but doesn’t everyone who values western culture and isn’t “woke”? Well done. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant November 15, 2023 Dave, thank you for your kind and clear-sighted comment. I saw the Union Jack atrocity and it sickened me too. I don’t recognize the British bobbies any longer. They used to be the epitome of fairness on the streets of Old Blighty. I’ve been helped out many a time by a policeman… but now… what on earth…?! Dave, these words of yours really touch my heart: “OK, you could say that as a Jew, I have a dog in this fight; but doesn’t everyone who values western culture and isn’t “woke”? – the answer is YES!! And it’s about time we all stood up for what is good and proper. Reply Dave Whippman November 20, 2023 Well I think if anything good can be said to come from Oct 7, it’s that perhaps people have been forced to choose sides. The far left and the Islamists have truly been shown up for what they are. One is with them or against them. I’m against them, and I am glad and proud you’re on my side. (Along with a lot of other people here, of course!) Susan Jarvis Bryant November 20, 2023 Dave, I’m in full agreement with you. I believe we’ve been forced to choose sides on many issues since the Covid lockdowns and there is a very clear divide in world views… a division that saddens me. Individual countries are no longer unified in love and pride for their history, their culture and their fellow citizens. But we all now know where we stand… the truth is plain to see… and as the Western world was built on Judeo-Christian beliefs, I believe God’s truth is needed more than ever before. Dave, thank you for your spot-on comments. I’m proud to stand alongside you. Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Joseph S. Salemi November 11, 2023 This sonnet has a thematic twist in it — it expresses anger over the interruption of the due honors to Britain’s war dead, but it also expresses a very intense anti-war feeling. I don’t say that these two things are incompatible, but they do present a momentary difficulty to the reader. It may be that the short space of a sonnet’s fourteen lines prevent a more explicit statement that could reconcile this conflict. The phrases “That ferrous gush” and “moon-blenched bones” are brilliant. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 11, 2023 Joe, thank you very much for your perspicacious reading of my sonnet. You are spot on with your observations and I thank you wholeheartedly for them. This was a tough one to write, and I fail to express myself with clarity… but, I myself am not clear as to exactly what and how I feel. This is what I know: I am not anti-war. My grandfather fought in WWII. He knew exactly what we were fighting for and who we were fighting against. I am anti-establishment. The government in the UK has turned on its citizens, to the extent that it’s pursuing lawsuits against retired military men. I don’t trust the government’s reasons for war… “weapons of mass destruction” was one helluva whopper and the war in the Ukraine, and the blowing up of the Russian pipeline are a mess. It seems our soldiers are being used as pawns in a game of propaganda whereby the only winners are those lining their pockets. Never before have I felt this uncertainty and loathing for those in power, especially after the evil exit in Afghanistan. How can I agree to the wars we are fighting when I don’t even trust the government to serve its own people. History is being rewritten before our eyes, and we have barely any freedoms left to fight for… they’ve all been willingly given away… without a fight. So yes, if my sonnet spells confusion, it’s because the author is confused. Does it still work? I’ve no idea, I just had to say it. Reply
Phil L. Flott November 11, 2023 Susan: Everything so well said. I was shocked to read that things over there are equally bad as things over here, in USA.
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 11, 2023 Thank you, Phil. I have just returned from a trip to England, and I am sorry to say, I am shocked at the changes, and none of them are for the better. In fact, the world we live in now would be unrecognizable to my late grandparents… I’m glad they’re not here to see how we’ve squandered the freedoms they fought for.
James Sale November 19, 2023 Yes, Joe, and so is the concluding couplet and that plaintive last line. Fabulous work, Susan. And BTW, it’s a nightmare being in the country where the hostility unfolds. I was in London 2 days after the event – going to the dogs is the expression that springs to mind! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 19, 2023 James, thank you very much for your appreciative words on my poem. As for my beloved homeland… how dreadfully sad. “Going to the dogs” is right. It’s happening here too. Perhaps it’s because that septuagenarian warmonger and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Tony bLIAR, is still a key global figure in the Middle East. Oops… one would have thought that after those WMD whoppers dripping from his lying lips, his mission for peace and prosperity would have been shut down.
Julian D. Woodruff November 11, 2023 Confused, Susan? But aren’t we all? We must be more benighted now than at any point in human history. At least we can be confident and grateful that you’re not–admitting and demonstrating confusion aside–in the growing crowd intent on sowing it. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Julian, yes… I think we’re all a tad confused by design… and you’re absolutely right when you say I am not intent on sowing confusion. Clarity is my aim… if I’m unclear about something, it’s because I’m genuinely baffled. In this case, I’d like to believe what I hear from supposedly reputable sources, but my trust is at an all time low. For example, Netanyahu did a deal with Bill Gates and sold his people to a medical experiment that doesn’t pass the Nuremburg-Code sniff test. How can he be trusted to defend his people? Reply
Jeff Eardley November 12, 2023 Susan, we are all sick of this conflict going on at what should be a more reflective time. Yesterday, we had English drunken thugs battling the police as open antisemitism was parading through the streets of the Capital. My parents would have been horrified. What on earth is going on? Hope you take home a few happy memories of Olde Englande. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 We also have many Hamas supporters on the streets of London calling for Jihad… I cannot believe our laws have been bent to allow such a march on Remembrance Day. Terroristic threats are not “free speech”… they’re arrestable offences. As for the “English drunken thugs battling the police”… I hope they weren’t high on the Old Tom 😉 Old Tom seems to have a lot to answer for. Reply
Brian A. Yapko November 12, 2023 This is a poem of great angst, Susan, which contrasts respect for history with the horrors of current actions and attitudes. Your poem expresses despair and loathing for those who know neither respect nor history and who now shout the loudest, abetted by venal opportunists. It’s unnerving and your poem captures exactly that. Sad to say, war will never end. Nor should it if it means submitting to evil. In the end, this is who we are, the good and the bad, the valorous and the heinous. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Brian, thank you for your appreciation of my words and for your wisdom. You are right when you say that war will never end. You are also right when you say, “In the end, this is who we are, the good and the bad, the valorous and the heinous.” I know I would fight for my friends and family with every ounce of my strength and breath… I just don’t trust a government who thinks its citizens are terrorists just because they challenge the education system and medical authorities. Any decision they make on war bothers me. Reply
LTC Roy E. Peterson November 12, 2023 Brilliant reflections on war and what now passes for peace in both our degraded societies. Wars on earth will never cease. All we can do it prepare for them and now have to worry about whether our country deserves the sacrifice of our people in military ventures, when it is in need of change and redemption. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Thank you very much for your observations and for your service, Sir. I appreciate your comments… I just don’t believe our soldiers are being prepared for the sort of wars we’re embroiled in at the moment. No young man or woman can ever be fully prepared for war… but, surely soldiers should be able to trust the government to remove them from a dangerous country safely when a war is over? I believe we have forever wars on our doorstep… the money-grubbing fat cats dictate our fate in days where citizens are treated like cattle. Reply
Hari Hyde November 12, 2023 Your sonnet impressively paints today’s chaotic emotions in fiery ferrous red. I’m reminded of the bleak wisdom of John Adams: “It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, “whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection,” and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever.” Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 Mr. Hyde, thank you for this thought-provoking comment. John Adams was a philosophical gentleman of wisdom – it’s a pity such beliefs are trodden beneath the bullying boots of those in charge. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 12, 2023 I wrote the poem below (published on Expansive Poetry Online) some time ago, but my thoughts remain the same. I believe the governments of the Western world are at war with their own citizens. We fight for other countries while our citizens are subjected to draconian rule. This leads me to think I ought to follow the money… when ethics are tossed out of the window, there’s always fat wads of cash on the horizon. This old poem might put my latest poem into clearer perspective: WAR Your history in this world is writ in blood – The blood of men of battlefield and trench Whose grit and guts were swallowed up in mud. Such gallantry has faded with the stench Of mettle, sweat, and putrid rotting flesh. You’ve ditched your axe and spear and bayonet – Your barbarous acts of butchery are dead. Your guns and gas gave way to something fresh – A craven age of slavish etiquette; A world where verve and valiance have fled. Today you will not stir for kith and kin. Today your ire won’t fire tenacious veins. Instead, you’ve turned your hawkish focus in On citizens the fickle devil names. To fight for all our hearts hold close and dear (Our family, our country, and our friends) Is frowned upon as patriarchal greed – A heedless deed that draws your scornful sneer. This is where our symbiosis ends. You’re in the grip of Satan’s wicked creed… You’re allied with the demons of the sphere. You’ve tortured truth and trampled on our trust. You’ve gagged us, locked us up, and fed us fear. You’ve seen our dreams and businesses go bust. You’ve slaughtered hope. Some cannot cope. They hang Their heads and weep as woeful spirits die. You’ve slammed our sex, our culture, and our skin Without the boom of bomb blasts from a gang Of soaring war dogs blazing in the sky… You are the beast we kindly welcomed in. Reply
Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 I really like this poem too. It’s spot on and said with your usual skill… especially “You are the beast we kindly welcomed in.” Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Thank you, Josh. I really believe we are in the midst of a very different kind of war at the moment… one some are only just beginning to understand, me included.
Mike Bryant November 12, 2023 Susan, as always, you let your heart and its honesty shine with this beautifully written, inward looking piece. Truly, Susan, “history has no value anymore” and the reason that is does not… it has been rewritten by the CIA and the entire military/medical/industrial complex. The recent news has been “shaped” by the powers that be. It is a bit easier to discern the truth here in the USA as we have a robust citizen journalist establishment. Speaking of history… I wonder how many people have fallen for these most recent attempts at rewriting history. How many recent mainstream media hoaxes did you fall for? – Russian collusion – 2020 Election most secure in history – Trump called neo-nazis “fine people” – If you get vaccinated you won’t catch COVID – Jussie Smollett – Bubba Wallace garage pull – Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation – Covington kids – Governor Whitmer kidnapping plot – Chinese weather balloon – Kavanaugh rape – Trump said drinking bleach would fight COVID – Russia bombed their own pipeline – Trump pee tape – COVID lab leak was a conspiracy theory – Border agents whipped migrants – Trump saved nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago – Steele Dossier – Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan – Muslim travel ban – Andrew Cuomo showed the best COVID leadership – Ghost of Kyiv – Trump built cages for migrant kids – al-Baghdadi was an “austere religious scholar” – Trump overfed Koi fish in Japan – Trump tax cuts benefited only the rich – Cloth masks prevent COVID – An SUV killed parade marchers – Trump used teargas to clear a crowd for a bible photo – Don’t Say Gay was in a bill – Putin price hike – Ivermectin is a horse dewormer and not for humans – Mostly peaceful protests – Trump overpowered secret service for wheel of “The Beast” – Officer Sicknick was murdered by protesters – January 6th was an insurrection – Trump mocked a reporter’s disability – Trump thinking that Stealth Bombers were literally invisible (Added 11/16/23… thank you, Paul A. Freeman!) These have ALL been proven to be lies. If you still believe them, you are still in the grips of the current tyrannies. Don’t simply sing louder to cover the terrible truths. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi November 12, 2023 Don’t forget the Tawana Brawley hoax, and the ginned-up hysteria over George Floyd, a career criminal with a huge rap sheet. Reply
Mike Bryant November 12, 2023 I think Tawana Bradley was just practice for the CIA and the Mockingbird Media scam that has been fully instituted. George Floyd is definitely the most unlikely martyr ever. The autopsy proved it was NOT murder. The really terrible thing, though, is that every single news story is now squeezed to fit the “bad white people” or “bad Christian” or “guns are bad” or any one of the ridiculous narratives that happen to be the current thing. And what’s even worse is that there are actually people out there that will buy… and SELL the garbage that is being pushed.
Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 All of leftism is a lie. Why would anything they say not be a lie? I’ve actually found that to be an extremely reliable method of determining the truth: if the left believes and teaches it, it is a lie. Ordinarily I would not go for that kind of thinking (in most circumstances, that’s the “genetic fallacy”), but leftism itself exists entirely in opposition to all that is good, holy, and true. Reply
Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 Just to be clear, I don’t mean every single statement every leftist has ever made. I’m talking about leftism itself and the ideas handed down by our leftist overlords.
Joseph S. Salemi November 13, 2023 Leftists often have good tactical ideas, about how to advance a viewpoint or gain political influence. But in order to make real use of such ideas, one has to disabuse oneself of Categorical Imperatives, religious scruples, and squeamishness. This is why the right tends to be at a disadvantage in politics. We’re too goddamned nice. It’s time to start re-reading Machiavelli.
Joshua C. Frank November 16, 2023 I’m starting to agree with you more and more on that one after what happened in Israel. That was the last straw on a lot of things.
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Thank you for these reminders of the lies – so many lies, so much confusion, so much skullduggery from authorities and the mainstream media… why on earth would anyone trust the judgment of those who have continually got it wrong… so very, very wrong for so very, very long? Reply
Paul A. Freeman November 16, 2023 Has an excuse been made up yet for Trump thinking that Stealth Bombers were literally invisible? Reply
Mike Bryant November 16, 2023 President Trump said, “(The F-35 is) the greatest fighter jet in the world, as you know, by far. Stealth. Totally stealth. You can’t see it. Makes it very difficult. I was asking a pilot, ‘What do you think is better: This one? This one? That one?’ Talking about Russian planes, Chinese planes. He said, ‘Well, the advantage we have is you can’t see it.’ So when we’re fighting, they can’t see us. I say, ‘That sounds like a really big advantage to me.'” Who said the plane is invisible… the pilot. Of course it is invisible to radar. Any thinking person knows what the pilot is talking about… well… almost any thinking person. Popular Mechanics sums up the article by saying, There’s a clear misunderstanding here. Trump flat-out says the plane is invisible, but no matter your opinion of the president, it’s extremely doubtful he thinks the plane is truly invisible to the naked eye. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a33658771/trump-keeps-saying-the-f-35-is-invisible/ Who, indeed, is reaching here? Just one more blatant lie to add to SCP’s archives… Thank you, Paul, for adding to the increasing list of lies above.
Joseph S. Salemi November 16, 2023 Exactly, Mike. Another one of Paul A. Freeman’s attempts to dig up some meaningless little point to cause trouble here. The pilot said it, not Trump. And even the pilot’s words can be taken as mere hyperbole. I wonder what Paul will say about the cache of arms, ammo, rockets, flak jackets, and battle gear found in that hospital in Gaza, after Hamas and the hospital staff screamed that the place was not a military headquarters. Can those lies (with photographs) be written off as hyperbole?
Joshua C. Frank November 16, 2023 I would expect him to defend Hamas given how he was silent about the Israel poems for a week and then lambasted you for your Columbus poem.
Cheryl Corey November 12, 2023 When I read the line, “While fat cats rake in heaps of blood-drenched dough”, it immediately brought to mind hearing a certain Senate “leader” who recently said that war was good for the economy. How sick is that? Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Exactly Cheryl. It’s sick beyond belief. It also tells us the primary reason for most wars… they’re good for the financial betterment of warmongers with shares in bloodshed. Reply
Joshua C. Frank November 12, 2023 Susan, this is great. All of it is good, but I especially love the closing couplet. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 13, 2023 Josh, the closing couplet is exactly how I feel. Our forefathers fought in wars to prevent exactly what is happening now, and we refuse to see it. History has been rendered meaningless to many… sadly. Thank you for your kind comments. Reply
Martin Rizley November 14, 2023 Susan, Thank you for this gripping poem, which as Dr. Salemi points out, may seem contradictory, for on the one hand, it laments the lack of proper honor shown to those who died in wars aimed at the defeat of patent evils– such as Nazi expanionism– while on the other hand, it laments the hypocrisy and lying propaganda of the “fat cats” that often send young soldiers into battle, so as to profit personally from their deaths. Wars are events that seem to bring out the best and worst in human beings. They are occasions of great heroism and self-sacrifice while at the same time drawing out the basest of human passions and depravity. One of the things that make wars so painful is the amount of suffering and distress that they cause among the civilian population who, even when they are not the intended target of bombings, air attacks, etc., are so often wounded or destroyed as “collateral damage” in a time of war. Nevertheless, among all this confusion and seeming moral ambiguity, my sympathy in a time of war will always rest with the heroic soldier who is fighting with one motive in mind– to protect, in whatever degree is possible, the lives of the innocent, especially, the people of his own nation and family from violent aggressors who deliberately target the innocent and revel in bloodshed, murder, torture and barbarity. Nihilistic, genocidal organizations that actively seek endless conflict and endless war in the name of a fanatical cause must be resisted, and to that, sadly, defensive war is necessary. But it is always lamentable and never to be glorified, though the heroic solidier who does his duty to secure the rule of law and the safety of the innocent, must be honored for his sacrifice. In saying that, I guess I am saying that I do believe the “just war” theory is valid– but even though participation in war may at times be justified, even just wars are lamentable and sad, because of the loss of life they always involve. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 14, 2023 Martin, thank you so much for your considered comment. I especially appreciate you stating that your “sympathy in a time of war will always rest with the heroic soldier” – I agree. But shameful circumstances today dictate that our heroic soldiers are treated like scum by their government who sues retired military men, doesn’t afford them the proper healthcare required when returning from war, and (even worse) leaves soldiers and their families behind in dangerous territory because those at the top have decided to pull out without a humane plan… and what about the homeless soldiers? No wonder there are few signing up to fight for a country that has no sympathy for heroic soldiers. That’s why I question war. Also, we are fighting a war in the Ukraine to secure their borders against Russian invasion while we have masses of unknown, undocumented military-aged men pouring into our borderless country without question. This is why I’m confused. Reply
Martin Rizley November 15, 2023 I totally agree with your distrust of a government that shows such disregard for the welfare of those who fought in the nation’s defense and for the safety and security of its own citizens, as revealed by the fiasco in Afghanistan and the erasure of border security by the present administration. I understand that so much of what we see in the news is propaganda with a self-seeking agenda, thanks to the billionaires with a God-complex who are funding the propaganda machine. So we must be discerning. Having said that, I have to admit that in the present conflict in Palestine, it does appear to me that the level of sheer barbarism displayed in the attacks by Hamas on Jewish families, and the promise made by the leaders of Hamas of similar attacks in the future, really leaves no option but for the Israeli military to pursue the complete annihilation of that organization, along with its subterranean infrastructure–if they have the military capability of doing so– with a determined resolve at nothing less than a complete regime change in Gaza. It is unspeakably tragic, but I ask myself, what alternative is there, under the circumstances? I really can see no option but to go “all out” in liquidating Hamas, or to retreat to a position of being “sitting ducks” waiting for the next round of beheadings, burnings and baby murders.
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 15, 2023 Martin, thank you for returning to this conversation with sensible and sagacious words I (for the most part) agree with. My confusion lies in the fact that the Western world governments have allowed staunch supporters of Hamas to demonstrate on the streets of world capitals with terroristic threats that were allowed to fly on a day when people were honoring their dead soldiers. In America, citizens have been subjected to beatings and killings by BLM, the self-declared Marxist organization linked with Antifa who demonize the police and white people, and a willful blind eye has been turned by the authorities. School and college children are being shamed and murdered because they are white. Our soldiers are being treated as if they are sub-human, yet no one acknowledges this publicly. What is happening in Israel is evil, and we should call it out loudly and clearly… yet, we have evil stalking our streets. Evil ready to erupt into a bloodbath if it goes unchecked, yet to talk detrimentally about the supporters of Hamas is held up for ridicule and quashed as if the citizens of the Western world are worthless idiots who know nothing. This is why I am skeptical about all the government declares right and good.
Dave Whippman November 15, 2023 Susan, as always you write well. The poem does kind of change tack half way through, but I think you get away with it. Your line about the police kowtowing was poignant for me, though in general I support them. But it sickened me to see them arresting a guy for waving the Union Jack, while hamas supporters screaming “Gas the Jews!” (sic) were given a free pass. OK, you could say that as a Jew, I have a dog in this fight; but doesn’t everyone who values western culture and isn’t “woke”? Well done. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 15, 2023 Dave, thank you for your kind and clear-sighted comment. I saw the Union Jack atrocity and it sickened me too. I don’t recognize the British bobbies any longer. They used to be the epitome of fairness on the streets of Old Blighty. I’ve been helped out many a time by a policeman… but now… what on earth…?! Dave, these words of yours really touch my heart: “OK, you could say that as a Jew, I have a dog in this fight; but doesn’t everyone who values western culture and isn’t “woke”? – the answer is YES!! And it’s about time we all stood up for what is good and proper. Reply
Dave Whippman November 20, 2023 Well I think if anything good can be said to come from Oct 7, it’s that perhaps people have been forced to choose sides. The far left and the Islamists have truly been shown up for what they are. One is with them or against them. I’m against them, and I am glad and proud you’re on my side. (Along with a lot of other people here, of course!)
Susan Jarvis Bryant November 20, 2023 Dave, I’m in full agreement with you. I believe we’ve been forced to choose sides on many issues since the Covid lockdowns and there is a very clear divide in world views… a division that saddens me. Individual countries are no longer unified in love and pride for their history, their culture and their fellow citizens. But we all now know where we stand… the truth is plain to see… and as the Western world was built on Judeo-Christian beliefs, I believe God’s truth is needed more than ever before. Dave, thank you for your spot-on comments. I’m proud to stand alongside you.
