Saturday, April 23, 2016

860 - Modern Slavery


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: pacify, rage and scarce.


Modern Slavery

Maintain your rage with what you see
As zealots gut democracy.
You cannot pacify those fools
By asking they obey the rules
That do not come from times BC,
That are not of a theocracy,
A book has told them what should be
And if allowed, they’ll make us mules—
Maintain your rage.

As ‘priests’ they hope that we will be
A compliant society.
When the doctrine’s taught in the schools
Are both harsh and wilfully cruel,
Freedom’s a scarce commodity.
Maintain you rage.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
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19 comments:

  1. Freedom’s a scarce commodity.
    Maintain you rage.
    .
    Freedom is an elusive commodity. Even if freedom seems apparent in a democracy it still falls short. Rightly so Cosmo!

    Hank

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  2. The repeating line of this rondeau becomes a battle cry!

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  3. Such an excellent rondeau.

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  4. We do need that rage to break the doctrine prison-walls... these are walls that many paint in the best of colors... but behind the veneer they are just like any other wall.

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  5. Anger is an energy (to quote John Lydon) - oh yes we will hang onto those monkeys with all our might

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  6. Absolutely fabulous especially with that final statement...

    'Freedom’s a scarce commodity.
    Maintain you rage.'

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  7. When I think of maintaining rage, I think of Donald Trump...but that is another story.

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  8. If we are to continue to canvass for freedom we need to hold on to that last line so our sanity remains in tact and compliance does not tarnish our poetic soul

    Have a good Sunday JC

    much love...

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  9. Yes, we must resist. When I read of such things as china's cultural revolution, I didn't think it could happen in democratic countries. But there are ignorant misguided zealots everywhere, I suppose. This is very well written, Cosmo.

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  10. A good write. Rage has its place.

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  11. A thought provoking piece - powerfully rendered. "Freedom’s a scarce commodity. Maintain your rage.": a stirring close to an intense, important poem. Great writing!

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  12. so true are any of us really free?

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  13. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” –St. Augustine

    Anger/rage has its place and is necessary!!!

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    Replies
    1. I agree ...there is a place for anger and rage.St Augustine's quote is still very relevant.

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  14. Anger is an energy flow that allows us to either stand and fight, or to flee. One can only hope there are more who would fight than flee,

    Elizabeth

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  15. Couldn't agree more on this. Slavery has never gone away, just merely changed forms. The crimes commited particularly against women and children in vulnerable classes are particularly dispicable. One issue anger is more relevant.

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  16. Very nicely written. I enjoyed reading this. :-)

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  17. Yeah, I like the repeating line and the fact that this piece reads well in several different accents. Yeah, this works well for me. Thank you.

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