“London BLM riot: Cenotaph vandalised on the 76th anniversary of the D-Day Landing” –UK News headline, June 6, 2020
In nineteen forty-four, this very day,
the barbarous bite of bullets felled our brave.
A crimson sea of soldiers paved the way.
At Normandy they had the world to save
from Hitler’s crushing boot—his wicked thrall,
and now black-hearted punks deface their shrine.
The cenotaph at Whitehall bears the scrawl
of villains set to loot and smash and whine,
and spray their vile gall in sooty ink
on memories of the souls who set them free,
without a blink in time to stop and think
of sacrifices made. Now their sick spree
has spat upon the homeless, noiseless dead—
a thug’s “thanks” for the blood our heroes shed.
And some people say we ought to avoid all “politically controversial” comments here at the SCP, lest we offend the poor, oppressed vermin who are rioting in the streets.
Dr. Salemi, my grandfather fought in WWII. I have visited the cenotaph at Whitehall many times, and watched the remembrance day service on the telly with my grandparents who were filled with heartfelt memories for all those who served and those who died. We stood in silent reverence during the ceremony. I witnessed the unveiling of Winston Churchill’s statue by the Queen when I was 8 years old. I saw the news today and I cannot express the sheer anger and dismay I felt. I know my sonnet is rushed. I know it could do with improvement, BUT, I wrote it in passion for my late grandparents and everyone out there who fought for our freedom. I’m expressing my sheer horror in the only way I know how.
Susan I absolutely stand with you in this. My grandfather also served in both World Wars and I have written many poems on remembrance as a result of talking with him many years ago. It is abhorrent to see this sort of desecration happening …. If I had my way I’d round up the perpetrators and name and shame them on the front page of every newspaper in Britain. Then I’d send them on a very long SAS training boot camp.
Rod, thank you for dropping by and reading this. I’m glad many feel the same. When protests descend into violent, destructive rampages it’s wholly unacceptable. Your grandfather’s memory deserves so much more than this. My heart is filled with gratitude for his service.
Thanks for this show of anger, Susan. I have been wondering how any of the few remaining survivors of D-Day view the appalling developments of the last few days, to say nothing of the attitudes and actions that characterize much of the western world in the 21st century.
Thank you for your spot on observations, Mr. Woodruff. I am absolutely certain those few remaining survivors of D-Day will be wondering what the hell the sacrifice of all those young lives was for. We’re in a very sorry situation, but half the world won’t know it unless it travels to their own personal doorstep, such is the duplicity of the media. I must stop this rant… and write another poem. I’m only too pleased the SCP published it.
In case anyone is wondering, here is some info from Wikipedia article on “Anarchist Symbolism:”
The circle-A is almost certainly the best-known present-day symbol for anarchy. It is a monogram that consists of the capital letter “A” surrounded by the capital letter “O”. The letter “A” is derived from the first letter of “anarchy” or “anarchism” in most European languages and is the same in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. The “O” stands for order and together they stand for “society seeks order in anarchy” (French: la société cherche l’ordre dans l’anarchie), a phrase written by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his 1840 book What Is Property?
Thank you very much for this interesting information, Mr. Tweedie.
Susan – Pace the seriousness of this theme, which of course I fully recognise, may I say that if I didn’t already know you would hate a role in the royal household, your ability to compose extempore verse as good as this should put you in line for the poet laureateship, in the Dryden tradition ( not after the egregious Duffy), if only your villanelles were a little more flobbily redolent of pudgy gluts. Unfortunately we would have to await the demise of the present incumbent anyway, and I don’t think the SCP should afford to hang about that long. Brilliant stuff!
Needless to say I am horrified by what had happened. My father fought at Monte Cassino in the last war, my grandfather at Gallipoli and the Somme in the Great War. Please see my poems about my grandfather. Published by SCP, 23rd April 2019.
… and to add, I can fully appreciate your horror, especially with your family history. We owe our forefathers much gratitude. Thank you for alerting me to your poems. I am very interested to read them.
Mr. Hartley, you know me so well! I would have to turn down such an illustrious position due to my allergy to corgis, my distaste for princes who find plants more interesting to speak to than people, and the lack of a suitable tiara (mine is studded with Texan rhinestones).
On a serious note, I’m thrilled with your appreciation of my hastily penned sonnet. I was driven to the pen (mightier than the sword, of course) after reading of this criminal act, and my fit of anger spurred me on to completion in around thirty minutes… and there was me thinking that truth and beauty were my inspiration. Oh dear!
This expression “The pen is mightier than the sword” is good as far as it goes, but if purposefully approached by a pantogenocidal maniac wielding a 4-bore elephant rifle a large nylon sheet I find more useful than a biro. Half an hour to write a sonnet eh? and not a bad one at all. You could be to the next intergalactic sonneteering tenson what I am to my local shin-kicking contest (no, not could be – you WILL be.)
Mr. Hartley, if there was a prize for witty comments, you’d win it! My sides are aching! In Texas, the biros are 50 calibre full auto. That’s one helluva lot of ink. I hope that makes a difference. LOL
Ms. Bryant’s poem is a fitting addition to the SCP. It is exactly these types of acts that we @ the SCP should report, and record, especially since the main stream media will not. I recently wrote a tennos on the defacing of Mahatma Ghandi’s statue by Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington DC, under-reported in the American press (though not in the Indian press). I appreciate Mr. Tweedie’s research into the graffiti itself; knowing such things helps to understand this particular situation. I also appreciate Mr. Mantyk’s willingness to publish such poems. Inspurred by Ms. Bryant’s English sonnet, a tennos was likewise written on the matter, though, because the cenotaph was from WW1, the approach was different.
Thank you for dropping by, Mr. Lawseed (a wonderful surname). I appreciate your observations and I too am grateful that we have a site willing to publish such material.
On another subject entirely, I am ashamed to say, I’ve never heard of a “tennos”. Is it a sonnet written backwards – beginning with the rhyming couplet? If it is, isn’t the insertion of a volta a tad painful? Oops, that does sound a little personal. I’m intrigued.
I would thoroughly recommend “Five Sonnets on World War I” by Peter Hartley. This series gives a vivid and moving portrayal of why we owe a debt of gratitude to those who fought for our freedom.
https://classicalpoets.org/2019/04/23/five-sonnets-on-world-war-i-by-peter-hartley/#comment-445033
Susan – Thank you.
Of the several hundred charichords (anagrammatic heteronyms) created, the only one developed by another is Brice U. Lawseed, a name devised by Mr. Mantyk; and it has been used, with a generally positive outlook, to write on law and Washington DC, unlike Caud Sewer Bile, a swamp creature whose focus is on Washington DC politics, etc., in a rather negative manner.
The tennos is one of the many forms of poetry created and developed during this last half century. It is indeed a response to the sonnet, and takes its inspiration from the ballad tradition. It is either rhymed, most usually in couplets, or unrhymed, in which case it becomes bland (or sometimes, balland) verse, as opposed to blank verse. In its basic form, it is ten lines of iambic heptameter, which can be used alone or in larger groupings, dodecas, odes, etc. Here is an example, that by War di Belecuse, Ms. Jarvis’ “D-Day Desecration” inspurred:
The Dead Are Not
Though poppies grow between the crosses, row on row on row,
the dead are not…are not asleep…are not asleep below.
The torch fell from their failing hands, though few care now of that.
The dead are not returning to this plot of land, this plat.
Though larks may fly above, the world will little note nor care.
The dead are not remembered much. The dead are unaware.
A cenotaph that honours them was recently defaced;
the dead are not within that empty tomb, by Whitehall placed;
but since they cannot speak and cannot tell us what they think,
the dead are not about…to…no, as into time they sink.
And though the tennos does indeed begin with a couplet, it has never been painful…to me.
A thoroughly intriguing comment. Firstly, Caud Sewer Bile the swamp creature – what a bothersome individual. I’m glad I’m dealing with the optimistic Mr. Lawseed. Secondly, what an intriguing form. I like it. Thank you for the accompanying poem – I might well try one myself.
A sad day indeed, and what of the future knowing that these ungrateful disrespecting scum will run the country
Tom, it is a very sad day indeed and there’s an awful lot to worry about. Thank you for dropping by. It’s great to see you here and I hope you submit a few of your wonderful poems!
Well written, and so true. How the hell can it help George Floyd – or any other black person – to deface monuments to those who fought against the ultra-racists of the Third Reich?
Thank you very much for dropping by, Dave. Your comment is spot on, and it angers me to see the devastation caused by the mindless destruction of history by thugs who don’t know the first thing about it. The Western world is descending into anarchy before our eyes and the truth is being trodden on. Thank goodness for sites like this and like-minded people like you who bring a touch of sanity to an increasingly insane society. With much gratitude.