“Do We Live in a War Zone?”

by Darryl Blackwell © L.O.C. 3/22/2025; written and presented at Mahanoy SCI

DO WE LIVE IN A WAR ZONE?

Music Trak: ‘Flight of the Newborn’ –
Artist: Return to Forever (Chick Corea); Album: No Mystery
(notes: L.E.O. – Law Enforcement Officer; stik – rifle or long gun; Cite Soleil is an impoverished district in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Tranq is Xylazine, often mixed with Fentanyl to lengthen its effect)

This is commentary
Not rap
Can I be like Oppenheimer
Creating a blast so powerful for all the world to hear
Bringing them to their knees
In total surrender
Moving out here in the night
Looking into the vastness
Planets
Stars or galaxies
Universes beyond ordinary man’s eye’s
Wrestling with new theories
New realities
Who remembers
That T.V. show
Where people want to know on what’s seen or heard
A question asked by many
“Do we live in a war-zone
Will I need a bullet-proof vest
Will disaster strike here next
Will L.E.O. be there to protect?”
Global news of Africa’s Sahel
From West to East
Yemen
Rafah and Gaza
Capetown
Allepo, Syria
Mariupol
Donatsk
Latin America
Pictures of bombing
Bullet-hole in walls
Fires or flames
Explosions shattering the peace
Violence
Constant shooting
Blood soaked ground
Carnivorous scavengers scour

– – – Every Night
While laying in bed
Tossing and turning
Trying to sleep
I hear those frightful sounds
Is it an army’s 21 guns
But no this is a bad dream
Because we don’t live in a place called Arlington
There’s heated, hateful controversy or debate
About whose life matters
Listen here
My life matters
Everyday somewhere
in countless cemeteries worldwide
a Bugler plays Taps
such mournful reminder
as flags
the symbol of ideas
constantly fly at half-staff
another soul laid to rest
Clerics speak knowing deep inside
This was another tragedy
Being placed in the hollowed earth
Covered with cold dirt
Fellow squads of drafted combatants
Hardened solders
Standing at robotic attention
When given order sharply salute
In rehearsed manner
One takes the nation’s flag
Carefully places it upon a tearful family’s chest
Eulogies are spoken
They gave their best
Laid down their life
But what about grief-stricken parents
Who for 17 years did invest?

– – – Conflicts over personal opinions
Vain thoughts
Backed through arcane government policies
So complicated politicians don’t truthfully understand
But they get in step
With the brass and drum bands
Crisply dressed in expensive clothing
Enough award medals to sink a ship
He can only walk lopsided
Accolades galore
for honor and privilege
a loved one is no more
this horror is too deep
ain’t got nothing
on Sci-fi
Freddie Kruger
Dexter
Jason or Texas chain saw massacre
It’s a lot of words
So don’t lose your life
Maybe end up behind bars
Due to liars
And some silly 3^rd party chatters
I’m swept away with all the mess
Some fool has to say
It’s real life
Each day hanging in serious balance
Between an assassin’s bullet
Or a surgeon’s slice

– – – People are stuck
They have no dough
Where can you go
Daily in zones of sacrifice
Places studied by scientists
So it’s already known
Where there is a lowered expectancy
For living a longer life
The violence among armed groups
Suicide bombers
Militias
Cults
Kamikaze missions
Lone wolf actors
Damage to property
Policy insurers won’t cover
Impoverished communities
Freeze on normal usual activities
exodus to new lands
Meanwhile
Long term blight
Mad push for gentrification
Dropped value on home or investments
Essential food in high demand
Overpriced inferior merchandise
These make deserts
Because who wants to open a business
It’s always nagging threats
Of someone kicking down the door
Ya better have a .223 or .44
To keep ‘em from robbing the poor

– – – Overfed Oligarchs
Settled hierarchies
Privileged minorities
Redlines
Exclusionary clauses
Havana cigar smoke
Negotiating in palatial rooms
While amongst the common man
Trap houses
Dispensaries
Package stores
Speakeasy’s
Fetty and black
Ice
Diesel
Tranq
Heightened tensions lead to misplaced anger and aggression
Dispute
Disagreement
Disrespect
Disunity
And certain doom
Each time you will hear the sound
Boom-boom!
Experienced when they yapping
Put down by extended clapping
Dealing with these bills
That keep coming in
Can’t take this crap no more
So in all effect
It’s a war zone
Guns like never before
Stik taller than that little boy

– – – So, it’s a war zone
Who will have to put on a uniform
Carry lethal weapons
And a nation’s flag
Do you really comprehend what that means
Be unwittingly sent into conflict
What are my chances
of evading poverty
and early death
I don’t want to starve
Or be isolated
In a tiny square
We seek life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
Aren’t these are constitutional legal guarantees
Not war or gruesome atrocity
Murder capital’s
Mogadishu
Killadelphia
NOLA
Chiraq
Cite Soleil  .  .  .
So the question remains
“Will you buy me a bullet-proof vest
Will disaster strike here next
Will L.E.O. be there to protect?”
No doubt
We live in a war zone
Another slow
Agonizing
Protracted and painful death
Anarchy
Chaos
Financial crisis
Fortunes lost or stolen
Economies wiped out
Widespread famine
Pestilence
Malnutrition
Disease
Pandemics
Epidemics
Plagues
Insect infestations
PTSD . . .

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