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Bill Watkins, Traveling Poet

Tag Archives: Military

Killing is Not Defense

01 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by Bill Watkins in Law, Poem, Poems, Poesia, Poetic Blog, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Joy, Killing, Law, Love, Military, Peace, Police, Truth

Killing1

We brought the guns from
Europe to America, lorded
them over the native people,
were careful to hit when we shot,

Part of scaring the people
into submission and stealing land.

We needed guns, or so we thought,
crammed together in close
quarters—England, France, Germany
and others within stone’s throw.

We looked all around, and best
weapons of war seemed to win.

We brought the disease across
the sea, that with our bibles
to justify treatment and dismissal
of a people clearly not Christian.

The Virginia Charter of 1606 clear,
calling all in armor sent across for the

…propagating of Christian religion to
suche people as yet live in darkeness
and miserable ignorance of the true
knoweledge and worshippe of God…

The descendants of Chief Luther
Standing Bear of the Lakota Sioux
from Wakan Tanka, the Great spirit
living among the kinship “with all

creatures of the earth, sky and water…
all of one blood, made by the same hand,
and filled with the essence of the
Great Mystery… The Lakota never

enslaved an animal, and spared all life
that was not needed for food and clothing.”

No cursing, no swearing, no loud guns
until we came here pushing our loud,
violent way as better.

And we tout a military that kills,
police that learn to kill, shooting for
the torso on the firing range, selling
our soul so often over the years,

All normalized and baked in the cake,
America the Beautiful shot in the heart,
helicopters overhead “keeping the peace?”

Killing is not defense, nor can it ever be.

Killing is offense, weapons of war, instruments
of fear—“all creatures hate them,” says
Lao Tzu, but what can one do?  Jesus said
“Live by the sword, die by the sword,”

So we as humans get to choose.  But if
your goal is to stop an attacker,
do so moderately short of stopping
his or her heart—

and the reward will be peace, and
perhaps a converted bad actor
given a second chance to be what
Wakan Tanka wants us to be.

Second Amendment Wrongs

23 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by Bill Watkins in Blogs, Gun Control, Poetry, Political

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2nd Amendment, Constitution, Love, Military, Murder, Police

The right to kill permeates military
spending, uniforms sparkling,
“something to do” as we seek out
and destroy to generals and devil’s
cold glaring shout of pride
and approval, the parade going by,

so sharp and sure, knowing
what to do finally, because they
yelled in my ear what I’m supposed
to do.

This was years after I neglected Moses
on the hill, or upon returning from
God.

A few tablets or one, or two shouted
easy truth—so it seemed, ten commandments
then hundred of little laws;

but the commandments, they are still
good. Thou shall not kill is re-written in
1789, ’90 and ratified in ’91 as the Second
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Thou Can and Should Kill, sayeth not Moses
but geniuses like Alexander Hamilton and
Washington, War-mongers in sharp
beating uniforms parading in peace-time
to simple orders.

“… the right of the people to bear arms”
the rally call for NRA and killers all, so fun
at the range or in a video game, paramilitary
or on the front line, get a holster, clean your
weapon, Soldier, time to learn to live
by your gun, die by it too—go to court,
pull out the Second above Moses and God’s
Sixth—plead insanity or “self-defense,” the same
thing:

To MURDER as self-defense! “Yes,” the Devil
loves that amendment! “Make more like
that, abandon God, forget Moses, and
Jesus, rabbis and priests hypocrites
the lot of ‘em!”

BOOM, LAPD shoots another in the chest;
the bum was reaching for his vest,
must have been bad—the evil as much
in thinking we know the future as anything
else.

So vain, so sad, we plead the fifth against
the second avoid the sixth and cop
to violence over and over again
at borders and beyond, your own
front lawn.

“The right to bear arms, “defend by
killing—“Justifiable homicide,” the
Devil’s favorite two words, those and
the one known as “judging,” so
“please” the Devil pleads, coerce the
people to go in and judge others!!

Throw out Moses, God—take YHWH,
write it LORD, then bastardize it as
“Lord” without the capitals, go all the
way—

Amend real, ancient and wise law with
the right to bear arms, “right to kill”—

Murder God now!

Or repeal toward peace to Devil’s
frown, the God we kill rising up
to guns and bullets melting down
except for the ones used to hunt
our food, we can change even though
the world cannot.

And this was good.

Prepare for Peace

26 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Bill Watkins in Poem, Poems, Poesia, Poetic Blog, Poetry, Political

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Joy, Love, Military, Peace, Police

Peace13

Police, paramilitary and Military training
that I’ve seen forget a key
course, the most important lesson
of all to take into the world:

Knowing what to do if no one
or nothing is wrong.

If all is quiet, no crimes are being
committed, no borders breached:

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO
IN TIMES OF PEACE?

I fear (prayer the remedy)—better yet,
it concerns me, the gung ho nature
of violent training, “preparing for war”
and “violent criminals shooting their
guns.”

As depicted in Apocalypse Now and
W. Bush carrier landings, the hoopla
and hype and “excitement” to go to war,
to use training to kill

is sick.

But that’s okay God love you anyway,
just learn how to organize twenty-four
hours of Peace. Difficult, I know!!

Takes an alcoholic at war with himself for years
to understand the compulsion
to seek and destroy, to find some “safe
place” apparently made safe by guns
all around you, but then you forget Jesus
who said “live by the gun, die by the gun”—

you’re painting a target on your heads sons
and daughters…

***

I know he said “sword” not gun, by the
way I’m not totally dumb, I used
to be scared and run, and figure that
if I “got you” before you “got me”—
well, then, I was living…

Ten percent of those who go into
police and military should be trained
for the worst.

The other ninety, give’em to me, to
Peace, to helping other nations, ours,
to being of service.

You have to learn to take one on the cheek,
and give them the other one to hit,

BECAUSE THAT IS REALLY SECURING

World Peace, friends

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