.

“United” Nations?

The U.N. won’t condemn Hamas’s slaughter,
Supporting those who want Jews underwater.
Iran’s a U.N. human rights group head,
Though it would like Americans all dead.

Two U.N. questions thus remain unclear—
Why we’re still in it, and why it’s still here?

.

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True Apartheid

Leftists say Israel uses “apartheid,”
Though Gaza and West Bank have long been self-run.
What’s more, the percentage of Arab Israelis
Who vote and hold office exceeds twenty-one.

Meanwhile the Islamic Uyghurs in China
Are all segregated in Chinese work camps,
And suffering from genocidal conditions,
But that, as apartheid, those Leftists won’t stamp.

.

.

The Goddess

Of loveliness is she comprised,
Auroral light escapes her eyes.
Exquisiteness of warmth and wit,
Graced more than any bard hath writ.
 
None could transcend the likes of she,
Each aspect fashioned flawlessly.
Perfection evermore has stirred
Thrills in a glance, bliss with a word.

.

.

People Skills

Folks blessed with “people skills” I so admire
For customarily, in all their dealings,
Displaying no consideration higher
Than subtly catering to others’ feelings.

.

.

Russel Winick recently started writing poetry after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.

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18 Responses

  1. Brian A. Yapko

    These are great, Russel — especially the U.N. and Apartheid poems which certainly summarize the outrageous reality of how leftists react to Hamas terrorism and simultaneously sell Jews down the river. I have long felt that the U.S. should leave the U.N. It is a bullying organization which promotes injustice. As for apartheid, you’ve nailed the situation. Jews, Christians and Muslims are all equal in the eyes of Israeli law and have the same opportunities for advancement. In the occupied territories, Muslims are indeed in charge. But they squander every opportunity to improve the lives of the people there by using every available dollar for bombs and the instruments of terror instead of infrastructure and economic growth. Yet no one criticizes them. Why does no one call a spade a spade and blame Hamas for the destruction of its territory and the deaths of its people? These have become foul, dishonest times which you describe very efficiently.

    Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    The U.N. was created with the help of Alger Hiss, a Communist spy who sent secrets to Stalinist Russia before and during World War II. His career as a traitor is now so well documented that only a few lunatics still try to deny it.

    You can’t expect anything at all from the United Nations. The last pro-Western thing it ever did was to send troops to Korea to fight the Communist invasion, and even that only happened because the Soviets foolishly walked out of the meeting, and therefore could not veto the decision.

    We should think of the U.N. today as merely a very large, expensive, massively bureaucratic, and intrusive NGO that serves globalist and anti-Western interests. Naturally it hates Israel, since it views the country as merely an outpost of Western culture and power.

    Reply
  3. C.B. Anderson

    The leftist lackeys should have their necks wrung like the ignorant chickens they truly are. All they ever lay are rotten eggs. The United Nations has become a bad joke. Damn Woodrow Wilson!

    Reply
  4. Roy Eugene Peterson

    With such divergent subjects of the poems, particularly #3 and #4 from #1 and #2, you seem to have a broad range of interests while deftly writing and thankfully sharing. Along with you and commenters, I share in despising the UN, especially since the 1950’s. Maintaining the organization is neither in our national interest nor in the billions we have paid into an organization that is anti-western and leftist in orientation. We need to leave the organization, shut down the facility in New York, and let is molder in Geneva, their alternate meeting place. Like us and our coddling of illegal aliens, some of whom are plotting internally in secret against us, Israel does need to cleanse itself of the Arab population. Then there would no apartheid even in theory or accusation in my mind’s concept, since they would not be there inside Israel. “The Goddess” is an interesting homage. I particularly liked the last line. “People Skills” perfectly is attributed to those who understand the importance of empathy and “subtly catering to others’ feelings.”

    Reply
    • Russel Winick

      Thanks for the compliments, Roy. The backstory of “The Goddess” is that of the nearly 750 women in the graduating class of my huge high school, one particularly stood out for her great beauty in my mind, and that of many other guys’. She also was very nice and smart, and she stayed that way through all of our many class reunions. At the conclusion of our 40th year reunion, when we were all 58 years old, I saw her standing near the elevator, ringed by a group of literally a dozen guys. I remembered the looks on their faces, and this poem, ten years later, is about that moment.

      Reply
  5. Dave Whippman

    Russel, thank you for the first two poems. You’ve put into verse the frustration that, as a Zionist, I’ve felt for most of my life. Perceptive and entertaining work.

    Reply
  6. Cheryl Corey

    With just six sentences, you’ve managed to show the UN for the farce that it is. In “True Apartheid”, you expose the hypocrisy of the left.

    Reply
  7. Margaret Coats

    Russel, “The Goddess” seems to me a lovely compilation of phrases that many poets might have used about beauty. Aurora was my favorite goddess, and therefore I especially liked “auroral light” for the eyes. Then when I found the poem was written to describe a woman who had maintained celestial qualities for 40 years, it is all the more precious.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick

      Margaret, your comments please me more than you could know. Since retiring four years ago, I’ve read many poetry anthologies. Two poems that particularly mesmerized me for the beauty of the language therein were Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, and Lord Byron’s She Walks in Beauty. I of course knew that I could never produce anything even remotely close to those masterpieces, but I did try my best to mimic their affect on me in writing The Goddess. I’m grateful to Evan for his assistance, and to you for your observations.

      Reply
  8. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Russel, as ever your compelling poetry on current events is punchy and powerful – ” “United” Nations?” and “True Apartheid” say it like it is… in true Winick style. But it’s “The Goddess” that has caught my attention… a rare gem of shining beauty amid the world’s woes… I simply love it!

    Reply
    • Russel Winick

      Thanks Susan. That’s really gratifying, as I spent more time on that poem than any other I’ve written. I’m so glad you liked it!

      Reply
  9. Joshua C. Frank

    “The Goddess” is my favorite of these, though the others are absolutely true.

    Reply

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