I know this poem will not end the war in Ukraine, but as the world’s consciousness continues to grow, this might be helpful...
Unnamed in Headlines & Nary a Footnote
To historians and recorders of history everywhere:
Must we always remember the names
Of the worst among us?
There are monsters
People who do bad things
To mark their names
On a page of history.
On December 8, 1980,
My personal hero
And the world's musician
– John Lennon
Was murdered,
And while the name of the assassin
Is known
I refuse to recall it in my brain,
Now or ever,
He and his name are not important
Nor worthy of remembrance,
Refer to him, if you must,
As the “bad man.”
Which brings me to March 11, 2022,
A day in the war between Russia and Ukraine,
We know the name of who started
This atrocity to all civilizations,
But we do not need to stroke his ego
By using it.
I call on all historians and recorders of history
To rise up today and declare that
They will hence forth refer to this man only
As the
“Useless leader of Russia between
“2000 - 2008 and 2012 to (date to be inserted)
“Who failed and devastated Mother Russia
“Murdered women, children and other innocents
“And caused death and vast damage
“To human beings everywhere.”
I know this is an unwieldy, wordy substitute to use
But my mind barely can touch this subject now,
My empathy circuits are too overloaded
To keep online,
To think anymore
Is to feel too much pain,
Still I am certain a better reference point
For this monster
Can be found by the wordsmiths of the media
The historians of the ages
And they can condense the fucking murderous asshole's name
Into a shorter generalized placeholder more palatable
For the public's consumption.
Carl Scott Harker ©2022
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My latest book of poetry is now available on Amazon, you can find it here: Lyrics Looking for a Musician.