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Hullabaloo

an epoch of brutality
met with shed tears
as glass sparkled
where rioters passed
Why? Unanswered
what could have been undone?
had a man not been choked
for such a petty infraction
Why? Unanswered
was a shot ever fired?
seems the land of the free
and brave prefers to cower
behind power first
regardless of lack of threat
Why? Unanswered
Ferguson
Eric Garner
what power fiends
on patrol
irrational reactions
acts of unfit uniformed bullies

Editing stage: 

Comments

terrible happenings
a really good write, just enough anger coming through
and I like the repeated 'why? unanswered' - very effective
strong word-usage
love judy
xxx

'Each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
shall draw the Thing as he sees It, for the God of Things as They are.'
(Rudyard Kipling)

Indeed! The very concept I sought to invoke.

Thank you,
David

author comment

that these things happen. I know, that as long as there are those that have such power, there will be those that abuse it. These cases are examples of that. Unfortunately,that only serves to play right into the hands of those dis-enfranchised people that use these incidents to undermine the police that are the protectors of our society and do a very fine job. I know that it isn't popular to defend the police, but like a bumper-sticker I saw recently; "If you don't like cops, the next time you need help, call a crack-head"
~ Gee

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

In canada new laws for anything violent against protests...
last big one we had was in BC I think over the hockey game.
it was big..much damage...The usual sad shootings of late..
massacres which are world wide happenings now..

This is a well paced poem...not too harsh nor too gentle
like Judy remarked..and proper questioning to make
the reader ponder it all..

I watched the U Tube videos of before Ukraine protests
just last xmas...then saw the horrible aftermath..
wreckage of bodies of soldiers and civvies
two sides going to battle....one may have an advantage
an agenda..an order

and alone against the establishment already livened
up and wound up....cant be a great outcome..
everyday We talk at work about yet another homeless
person shot..or of race...
State is always going to win...
if they ran it like the socialilst blocs everyone would be
shipped to the desert and mountians like they did
the Japanese seventy years ago or more..
Like they tried to exterminate us indians..(Im part
american indian from the mid west I think)

Sad.....

Thank You!

I wasn't around for the crash. I hope you stick around. NeoPoet is growing.
I don't much care for protest poetry, but the piece itself is well structured.

W. H. Snow

A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. Percy Bysshe Shelley

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But these cases came in just as I got my head around the case shown on YouTube of a cop tazing a cuffed minor that fled a few steps causing her to fall and go into a coma. Along with a case of a mentally despondent girl being tazed in the head and left brain dead. The reason my uncle left the force resonates with me, he saw that the policies were lax, and the demand to fill rosters laxed screening protocol. So more meat-heads are making the cut. I agree there are serious professionals. I just wish that there was more oversight regarding abusive, unwarrented force. Set an example when these cases occur and it will give pause to others that are apt to abuse their authority..

author comment

I dont write protest poetry. Mostly bc I haven't figured out how I want to structure and rhyme it. You did good with this one. Why? Unanswered is an effective refrain bc much of this violence on the bodies of young like 12 yr old Amir go unanswered.

*Collaborative Poetry Workshop* American Version of Japanese Poetry ~ Renga ~ Haiku, Senyru, Tanka.

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Forty five percent of my police force is below 28 years of age. Give them a gun and...

W. H. Snow

A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. Percy Bysshe Shelley

Learn how, teach others.
The NeoPoet Mentor Program
http://www.neopoet.com/mentor/about

Don't make me feel safe at all.

*Collaborative Poetry Workshop* American Version of Japanese Poetry ~ Renga ~ Haiku, Senyru, Tanka.

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