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Poetry Showcase [Political] Moderators for this section: Weaver, ochsterboxter, CadenzRime, Lingua Pura, ososment, carolynrn, Inker

Lubyanka Vice

Outline: Freedom of speech stifled.
Review: Any comment welcome.
Lubyanka Vice

'Bing! Bang! Bong!' went the bells of St Basil's,
its spiralled onions clothed in snow.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!' went the beat of his heart
in a Red Square winter full storm blow.

'Niet! Niet! Niet!' screamed the KGB
as they squeezed his thoughts in the Lubyanka vice.
'Bish! Bash! Bosh!' went the hose on his back
as he fell head first to Siberian ice.

Dissident poet with a wish for change;
3am knock and his world is in a mess -
ten years in a gulag locked up with his rage.
Is it any different now that Putin runs the Press?
Pug
[Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:48 pm]
Hi Ron
It's probably me with the diddly dee rythmm thing going off in me head. As you know I can't get out of it. I think it reads better 2V L2 fell to his knees. 3V 2L [A] 3am knock. Probably just me, good poem, and a powerful indictment against the so called New Russia, sounds like old tricks to me.
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Logicus tracticus
[Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:36 pm]
Evening Ron..St Basil of Caesarea, I presume just Its onion domes, does not give them full credit "twisted/spiralled"


Perhaps 3am call, better than knock...don't think they bother to knock anyway..

Putin runs the Press,
Putin suppresses the press bit more poetic, commisioned by ivan the terrible, he then had the architect blinded so could not build another building as beautiful..that's Russia for ya..

The reviewer would appreciate your comments on: I Dont Care
_________________
read once for meter, twice for rhythm
thrice for rhyme, then again for
leisure or measure of pleasure;
you: parasites of no consequence:
Larkin
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newvoice
[Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:44 pm]
Ron

Hi. Have you ever read anything by Myakovsky? Not that his subject matter is the same - he was the hooligan futurist voice of the revolution - but the staccato, sloganeering style of this (and the russian connection) made me think of him.
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Ron
[Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:23 pm]
Pug,

Yeah, I thought of 'knees' originally, but then made the 'head first' connection as it was his thinking that got him arrested. Hm, maybe I was trying to be too subtle there. I'll think more about knees, and 'A 3am knock' - or maybe 'The 3am knock'. Cheers.

..........

Bob,

I was unconsciously quoting Solzhenitzyn from his Gulag Archipelago as he continually went on about this '3am knock on the door' and everyone in Russia feared that, as that's when the KGB came for them, while they were asleep. Scary, man, it's a wonder how any of them could sleep.

Yeah, the blinding, Jesus, some strange and terrible tales have come out of that land, hey.

..........

Newvoice,

No, I haven't read Mayakovsky, sorry, but glad you could make a connection and I'm humbled that you compared this poem to his work. Cool

..................

Well, thanks, all - all tips noted for consideration, and all comments greatly appreciated. Very Happy

Cheers
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". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Jack
[Sat Dec 15, 2007 8:50 pm]
Nothing ever changes, especially in Russia ...

Loved this line:
'Niet! Niet! Niet!' screamed the KGB
as they squeezed his thoughts in the Lubyanka vice.

Well done Ron.
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The Moon is Blue. Once in a while.
www.axiomphotography.co.uk
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Ron
[Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:27 am]
Thanks, Jack,

I've been watching documentaries and reading about Russia all my life, even been behind the Iron Curtain twice. I read Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Prize-winning Gulag Archipelago the week it hit the bookshelves and it blew me away. I've always had a deep respect for the 'ordinary' Russian - man, they've had to endure some terrible shit in the last hundred years. You've got to be hard to survive in Russia, and not just because of the weather. The 'Thought Police' are still operating over there. Evil or Very Mad

Cheers for stopping by. Wink

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Ron
[Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:35 am]
Logicus tracticus wrote:
Evening Ron..St Basil of Caesarea, I presume just Its onion domes, does not give them full credit "twisted/spiralled"


Sorry for delay, mate - got sidetracked - but have now edited as per your inspirational 'spiralled' and altered the timeline in second stanza. Give it another once-over for me, please.

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Ron
[Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:58 am]
Jack,

You and I met up in Bangkok in Sept' '80. When I went back in Feb' '81, this is how I got there. Laughing Laughing Laughing

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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arthurian
[Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:53 pm]
Ah Ron - heres a history lesson for you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osip_Mandelstam

Sad truths of the life of the Rus.

Gordon
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Ron
[Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:01 pm]
Thanks for that, Gordon.

Quote:
Mandelstam's own prophecy was fulfilled:

"Only in Russia poetry is respected – it gets people killed. Is there anywhere else where poetry is so common a motive for murder?"


Sad


NKVD photo after second arrest
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Logicus tracticus
[Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:49 pm]
Quote:
Mandelstam's own prophecy was fulfilled:

"Only in Russia poetry is respected – it gets people killed. Is there anywhere else where poetry is so common a motive for murder?"

Motive Ron excuse more like...Poets today I suppose would be the medieval jesters, who managed to get away with lampooning the "wrongs" done to the masses or those who were seen as a threat to "society"... Nasdarovia! last verse says/states it so well
Quote:
But dreams can last forever
When you get a taste of Bangkok
And a kiss from Asian Sun
.
Like wise last thought can do so as well

The reviewer would appreciate your comments on: Boys that were buoys,
_________________
read once for meter, twice for rhythm
thrice for rhyme, then again for
leisure or measure of pleasure;
you: parasites of no consequence:
Larkin
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Ron
[Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:25 pm]
Quote:
Poets today I suppose would be the medieval jesters, who managed to get away with lampooning the "wrongs" done to the masses or those who were seen as a threat to "society"... Nasdarovia! last verse says/states it so well


Last sentence is about losing contact with my Irish friend, John, not about forgiving Soviet atrocities. Wink

See you over on yours soon. Thanks for invite. Cool

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Logicus tracticus
[Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:15 pm]
on that subject Soviet atrocities.
Putin is having trouble sleeping, trying to think of ways to increase his despotic hold on Russia. All of a sudden, Stalin appears, saying, "Yo, Vlad, wassup?" Putin asks for help with his quest and Stalin says, "No problem, first you shoot the democratic types, then paint the inside of the Kremlin blue." Putin looks confused and asks, "Why blue?" Stalin says, "Ha! I knew you wouldn't question that first part!"
_________________
read once for meter, twice for rhythm
thrice for rhyme, then again for
leisure or measure of pleasure;
you: parasites of no consequence:
Larkin
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BrianRobertNeal
[Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:52 pm] Watto Ron
The poem makes a great impact.

But with PC and its concept that "wrong thinking" can "aggravate" a crime running wild are we not on the Nursery slopes that lead to the Russian Experience.

Brian



The reviewer would appreciate your comments on: A plea for objectivity:Retitle and edit
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Ron
[Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:25 pm] Re: Watto Ron
BrianRobertNeal wrote:
The poem makes a great impact.

But with PC and its concept that "wrong thinking" can "aggravate" a crime running wild are we not on the Nursery slopes that lead to the Russian Experience.

Brian


I've said it many times, that, 'Political Correctness can lead to Political Stupidity', and the British Electorate could be walking blindly into a future Totalitarian State.

Post 9/11, the British Govt appear to have latched onto this paranoid way of looking at the world, and are attempting to enact laws that in no way could combat the threat. ID Cards have been in the US for decades but the towers still fell. The attempted extension to forty-two days to hold a suspect in the UK did not secure convictions in the US's Guantanamo Bay after five years of incarceration.

'Stop and Search' powers that the police have recently been given led to race riots in the eighties when it was applied to our Black community.

Speed cameras everywhere do not appear to be dropping the death toll but the generated income is enormous and all information is logged on a database.

I do not mind being watched on CCTV everywhere I go as I do not break the laws when downtown, and those that do are captured and banged up and I smile every time we catch another one.

What I object to is the Govt breaking the Data Protection Act by not making safe and secure database files on every citizen due to their sheer incompetence.

So long as we still remain capable of voting out a Govt we object to we will remain a free nation.

Thanks for stopping by here, Brian. Wink

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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