Dark Continent lost cause rebels
Desolation and despair ember ashes
Slow burning wars singeing consciousness
Smoldering conflict mired in neglect

Where government dams bloody rivers
Blue headstream conjoining White Nile
Political frustrations percolating for decades
Oily motives shamelessly disclaiming rights

Brutal faithless ethnic cleansing campaign
Black voices silenced throats slit
Marooned in fruitless arid wasteland
Traditional means of livelihood destroyed

Cross-border refugees fleeing for survival
Attempting to escape marauding Janjaweed
Makeshift camps overcrowded tent cities
Innocents held hostage to deadlock

Meager access to potable water
Bare necessities in limited supply
Hand-to-mouth existence reliant on strangers
Incommunicado muffled cries forcibly raped

Furrowed brows creased with dust
Tribal scars dimpling ruddy cheeks
Wounds that never heal cover-ups
Festering open sores crusty scabs

Dirt poor mud hut cracks
Soiled future fertile as sandbox
Desert battered by windswept grit
Sunstroke nomads begging for mercy


~ Dr. Charles Frederickson

Shackled posies bouquets of lies
Haunted by unholy ghosts fleeing
Deaf gods mute wingless angels
Excommunicated for just cause convictions
Held in checkmate end game

Numbing cold run down scabbards
Shivery souls turned to coal
Steamy pressure cookers dripping tears
Heavy breathing outbursts of animosity
Muffled silence the craven norm

Triumph of the human spirit
Somnambular dreams of departed joy
Within everlasting vestiges of hope
Intentions unspent purist anima sustained
Somehow surviving remembrances of home

Guarded black oyster catcher cormorants
Shore birds huddled at attention
Mainland world of sunshine and
Shadow revisited reach for the
Skies extending way beyond grasp

Young rebels have grown old
And gray or passed away
Rusty bars chipped plaster repainted
Pavlovian attack dogs caged reformist
Political prisoners wielding political clout


~ Dr. Charles Frederickson

Ivory Castle fear-mongers manipulating pawns
Fatal isolated moves checkmate foreordained
King George`s bloodthirsty thorny crown
“In Gold Wet Rust” corrosion

Axes of we-evil Koreal hatchet-men
Stud poker face-off masquerade bluff
Knavish scam gambling Asia`s future
One-eyed Jacks misguided missile Aces

Snake eyes crap shooting gallery
Unholy land ignoble warrior crusaders
High stakes Show & Tel Aviv betting
American`t meltdown against all odds

Iraq and rollover twisted shouts
Wild Jokers imposing stacked deck
UNsafe roulette wheeler double-dealer spin
Bushy-tail skedaddle UNjust cause comeuppance

Indian pachisi Persian backgammon offshoot
Iran You-ran bombastic nuclear reactions
Thimblerig cowry shell game swindle
Oily motives gushing ne`er-do-wells

Biding standstill time delay of
Game foxy hunters becoming hunted
Hounded by fair play conscience
Fumbling defensive linemen running interference

Almighty Atlas shrugging padded shoulders
Titanic clash zapping bruiser egos
Shell-shocked victims will never forget
Hearts and minds irretrievably lost


~ Dr. Charles Frederickson

Age of disillusionment is overcast
With dense clouds of desperation
Unjustified war purporting liberation degenerative
Thwarting occupation imposing American Excess


MIGHT WITHOUT INSIGHT


White Castle homespun Rapunzel yarns
Tarnished silver linings outside-in reversible
Guaranteed rights becoming uncivil wrongs
As credibility unravels honor frays


HOLLISTIC NOT BALLISTIC


Occupation begets masters dominating slaves
Breeding future scourges unwinnable battles
Hateful fears subjugated flag wrapped
Under folded tricolor nationalistic banner


EMANCIPATION NOT EMACIATION


Oil`s not well Iraq ‘n roll
Skim reading between pipelines sabotage
Was is expensive peace priceless
Human suffering costs precious lives


RECONSTRUCTION NOT ANNIHILATION


Doves homing pigeons scavenge crumbs
Obsidian force-fed hawks eating crow
Humble pie stuffed down craws
Swallowing bellicose pride up-chucking emetic


DIALOGUE NOT EPILOGUE


Is there still hope for
Disenchanted pragmatic idealists feeling betrayed
Desperately believing wondrous miracles with
Just liberty for all humankind


RIOT ACT


RIOTS ejaculating spitfire don`t swallow
Aroused rebel rage sniping stars
Dispirited victims taken for dead
Blazing soul gritty astrosphere resurrected

PATRIOTS misguided ballistic missile dropouts
Cluster bombs shrapnel bullet swarms
Mass grave bunkers inescapable pitfalls
Body counts don`t add up

CHARIOTS spinning cogwheels stalled buds
Radial vertical post sunflower projections
Forged iron turnstile pushed against
Pulled teeth surrender shifting gears

MATRIOTS passionate caring inspires motherland
Love confuses hate perplexes fear
Yearning homing pigeons return roost
Winging backwards crutches leaned against

ROOTS innocent betrayals unspeakable trust
Forlorn hope ethereal paradise grounded
Living dead crying for help
The Furies begging gods for answers


~ Dr. Charles Frederickson