And These Two Despots Smile
“where organs switch one human to another,
where one stays live, and one’s a discard donor.”
—Damian Robin
While walking side by side at the huge military show,
dictators Xi Jinping and Putin, talking to and fro,
were caught on a hot mike, discussing organ harvesting,
and living for one-hundred-fifty years by targeting
a captive citizenry of CCP prisoners,
like Uyghurs, dissidents, and Falun Gong practitioners,
a Chinese population shrinking, sinking all the while;
great cities turn in to ghost towns, and these two despots smile.
At Utah Valley College
For his debates, he was a martyr to sheer, vile hate.
Assassination reared its head, two-hundred yards away.
The grisly act, that fact; his blood was spilled, his life was stilled.
At Utah Valley College, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed.
His life was taken, in the nation that he truly loved,
amidst a flood of wickedness. Where is the mourning dove?
Bruce Dale Wise is a poet and former English teacher currently residing in Texas.
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Bruce, in the “Two Despots” poem, you’ve struck on the only way these fellows would ever need to be concerned about the current very slight downturn in China’s population. That is, if Xi and Putin really were able to succeed in living 150 years, which is most improbable, even by the abhorrent means you mention. China’s population remains effectively at its highest level ever (1.4 billion), which has caused the new construction of cities to accommodate populations equaling those of the world’s largest cities. If birth-rate drop and aging trends continue, some of these will become ghost towns, but not any time soon. You’ve taken a good look at the despotic mindset, subtly adding to it the classic Chinese veneration for longevity.
The other poem, about Charlie Kirk, I like a little less than the four lines you posted on the day of the assassination. That because in those four lines you didn’t specify a reason. All of our many Kirk poems (and there will be more) are at least a little vague about why Charlie was killed. He was a debater, he spoke truth, and many martyrs may have done so, but that doesn’t reveal the genuine passion behind what can really be called martyrdom. Like the other poets, I can’t put it into words–just as I think you have difficulty here describing what’s behind the genuine mourning we’ll all witnessed. Two fine tries on your part!
You have, as expected, lived up to your last name. There is real wisdom in both of these, as disturbing as they both are.
Dale, both poems speak to us. The first, of likely discussions by evil leaders, and the second, of the tragedy in Utah.