ashes beneath the boots (new poem)

ashes beneath the boots

by Tim Kavi

marching triumphant

fists in air

you take the hill

overrun the square

but in your heart

is a vacant stare

You dismember

yourself

unmoved by human

compassion

there is only

your training

reduced to a number

your uniform

makes you look like

all the rest

you think you are

anonymous

so easily forgiven?

that only you will be blest?

that face shield

doesn't hide you

full metal jacket

you better carry

a long club

because someday

you will reap what you sow

brutal taskmaster

on the day

Freedom Rings

when the freed man sings

when women walk

the streets

no longer afraid

when you

and the hate of the old

ways are crumbled

stomped beneath our feet

as we peacefully walk

the freshly cleaned street

beneath my boots

I still see that You

who said I was not a person

has become all the ashes 

of a history not forgotten

while up ahead

precious souls

you once tormented

are dancing

in peace, at long last

in love with each other

and so very free.

Poet's Afterword:  another poem of protest which will be in my forthcoming collection 'Poems of Protest' by Tim Kavi. Long live freedom and love! ~~TK 

This is Our Time (New Poem)

This is Our Time

by Tim Kavi

in desperate times

and diverse places

visitations by divine graces

there have always gathered

in the name of every man, woman

and child, who has been affronted

and wronged

the knowledge of a people wronged

denied basic freedoms

to say what they wish

maimed or killed

because it is their time

this is our time

we will seize the moment

so that history does not say

we ignored you or your tyranny

until yet another generation passes away

this is our time

we will not overlook it

but bravely stand and say

we oppose you

so that history does not say

we retreated, but advanced

to your ugly heart

this is our time

your underlings

your henchmen

those who follow

for profit, losing their souls

tortured in your name

draped in your flag

this is our time

does it feel good

that in the name of your justice

you call this social order?

but it is a miscarriage of it

a vestige of control

but this is our time

some will hear us

they will be coming

so that history does not say

the world was silent

and did not care

for all the world knows now

that tyrants cannot be in power

forever

their deeds shame them and betray them

this is our time

this is our time.

Poet's afterword--this poem will be part of my forthcoming collection Poems of Protest, hope readers don't mind I shared it here.  MY heart is with all those that long for freedom and love!~~TK

Frameworks of Reason (New Poem)

Frameworks of Reason
by Tim Kavi

Shifting frames
of reference, merge
collapsing
bursting paradigms
old things are called by new names

Satellites
fall into the sea
Sputnik is gone
Voyager flowed past me.

Ghosts of what was
medium is the message
becomes media of vestige
sacred cows
become lint and fuzz.

Utterances full of meaning
become empty promises
threats of scheming
become Utopian visions that were dreaming

shaken to the ground
foundations become rotted
dry rot beams, splitting
rafters in some new sound

a building
habitation of that which is
forms in the mist
of truths born from
what was forgotten

old songs begotten
in new covers, pages unroll
but not on paper
tell me other ways of thinking

world was round
now is flat
uncertain ground
wallets less fat

wonder who is leading?
Who is? Chances are 'He' is
tomorrow's blood in the streets

lessons learned, you would think
but no one listens
until power is almost gone
shaken foundations

ancient libraries burned
Buddhas cast into the sea
Your ways are the only right ones?

who said? In worlds
where new flags appear
every month, while newer ones flap still
to gather tomorrow on the same hill?

Of what frameworks of reason
the blood does spill?
When the people are not consulted
and freedom is never an act of will?

So rising up they will gather
at moments when least expected
freedom comes calling, on your door knocking

You laugh at this?
Think your day is not coming?

There is only this reasoning together
though your sins be scarlet
For you robbed, and took most of what they had!

So listen, to the people
they are surely drumming
You cannot kill, imprison, or ignore them all

Your frameworks of reason
have reached their final call.

Poet's afterword: My most popular poems by blog visits have always been Poems of Protest.
This poem will be part of my forthcoming collection to be published in the Late Fall of 2012, and called fittingly, Poems of Protest. ~~TK

Bleeding Snow (Repost from 2008) W/ Poet's Afterword

Bleeding Snow
by Tim Kavi

like tears
in the
bleeding snow

cries
of the oppressed
have come
undressed

before all
the world

superpowers
wonder
at what
fate has
unfurled

everywhere
the small
the least
and unknown
are hurled

towards the
lands of
unfulfilled hope

they walk
arm in arm
hearts bound
by a strong rope

of freedom's cause

to the place
where chains
are tossed
and no one's
dreams are lost

freed from
tyranny's fraud

walking ones
persist
in long time
you will be kissed

if by none
except those
that follow

never forgotten
our futures secure
only by what
it has cost.

AFTERWORD:  This poem was written in April of 2008, and posted on another blog I had at a social media site.  The message seems prophetic almost,  as it seems to fit 2011 completely.--T.K.

Prisoners of Disfavor (New Poem)

Prisoners of Disfavor
by Tim Kavi

oh the sadness
of solemn goings
across time's
membranes

there is only
the uncovering
of eternal shames

as you seek
the nine billion
manifestations
of God's names

to heal your suffering souls?

to wander among
the lost poets
and shipwrecked fools

in the sea of words
across the history
of many flags
unfurled?

who is
your master's name?

what disgrace
do his words bring?

what prisoners are
new?

never oppressed before
their sufferings
not few

those borne of disfavor
in the government's
view?

march with a
certainty in chains

until at last
their chains
are cast
aside in freedom's
volley

until the madman's
dance and
the madman's folly?

their certain vision
brings a hope
that all will be free

when at last
history enables the
rest to see

the truths of
their suffering's song?

the sadness
of their family's wrong!

and at last
those that still live
emerge

with a message
they bring
of the wrongs and woe
that placed them there

to the sunlight of that day
shielding their eyes
from the sudden light

emerging from
a dark theater of pain?

to the countryside
they go
the square
the mountains
the flowing hills
and valleys

painted in their blood
flooded by their tears?

until all is soothed
made whole
and right again

the messages
of the prisoners
of disfavor

sound from the gallows
and torture rooms
that bring wrongful confessions

ring from the shallows
inditing their masked
torturer's obsessions

until bleeding
in their faces
they have been dehumanized
and not seen?

the prisoners of disfavor
blacken the credibility
of oppressors everywhere

until the injustice
has consciousness raised
many outraged
plainly speaking

then the prisoners
of disfavor
are released in an outrage
of social discomfort

signifying the last days

of those who misused
their power
and abused
their fellows

heating implements
of harm
in the fire

of revolutions past
and those failed

dissenters jailed
who were later
found to be in the right?

Oh, prisoners of disfavor
may your truths
always come to the light!

Poet's Afterword: Another Tim Kavi poem against injustice everywhere.

Hope Found There (New Poem)

Hope Found There
by Tim Kavi

corporate leaders

let me know
when they start crying
for they are too
busy spying

their next paychecks
to give a damn

oh the workers
are sighing
can you hear
the collapse of
markets
and their houses

they are dying

the waters
are flowing
picking off the fat
no one knows
where they are going

denying
the previously blessed
who once secure
are now
totally undressed

to the entire world?

rocking the foundations
of all that we
once held dear
there remains
the still calm voice
beyond the fear

the hope
born of realization
that what has
happened
was built on lies

that by misusing others
the lenders
reaped their deeds
and met their
dark surprise

it is sad
that their victims
have cried
with no homes
left supplied?

until one
builds again

until one
turns again

to the basics
of love
of freedom
and care
for each other

then, and only then
is hope
found completely
there !

Poet's Afterword: Another Kavi poem about social unjustice!