Barbara Ehrentreu
58 years old
North White Plains, NY
I have been a teacher for over 15 years. Poetry was the first serious writing I did. A few of my poems have been published online at The Albany Poetry Workshop. In addition to poetry I write both adult short stories and children's young adult novels. Two of my stories have been published in ezines and I am almost finished with my young adult novel. At the present time I am finishing my Masters of Professional Studies in Reading and Writing K-12 at Manhattanville College.
SHOUT
I have stayed quiet
While the guns of war have assembled.
I have stayed quiet
While sons and daughters of our generation are
Shipped to fight against
A nation we once called friend.
I have stayed quiet
While history has repeated itself and the World gasped in horror
At the whims of the head of my country.
I have stayed quiet
While freedoms have eroded in the name of national security.
Now my silence is ended.
Once more I will raise my voice against the
Senseless battle about to come.
Would that we invested such wealth into the education of our
Baffled children who must swallow the mixed messages we give.
Now my silence is ended
I will shout my words upon this page
Shout and fight against the plans of the few
Who wish to substitute bombs and bayonets for books and
Whose wishes send the bodies of our young as fodder for their
Deja vu war in Iraq.
Time to Say Enough
The body count rises like the price of gas.
Each day one or two soldiers are gunned down.
Each day one or two cents higher.
Each day our freedoms erodes
Like soil in a treeless forest.
Fear directs us to follow tyrants
Who usurp our lives;
Who weave the threads of patriotism;
Who use us to fuel their greed;
And waste our young.
The fabric of our flag is strong.
It supports a tenuous vision - our country.
It rails against our enemies and embraces our allies.
It welcomes diversity,
Embraces us like a doting parent
Can we allow this assault to mar its beauty
Until it disintegrates piece by piece?
Until law is replaced by decree?
Until war is the law?
Or is this the time to say, enough?
Laid to Rest
"My son is gone!
My son is gone!"
Blinded by tears
She'd seen the body
The one she'd rocked to sleep
The boy whose hand
She'd held on his first day of school.
No longer to see the wonder
No longer to see the joy.
Now laid in the coffin
Her little boy no longer.
She'd be no grandmother
For his unborn children.
No longer wonder why
He didn't call more often.
No more worries of his
Nightmares in a land of sand.
No longer hear his stories
About friends lost each day
No longer fear the ringing phone
The unknown car at her door,
Her heart cracked
The pain moved through her body
Like a virus had invaded her blood...
Crept silently, steadily
Until reaching its goal
Tore through the solid walls,
Resting its weight
Pressing hard against the valves
Swallowing all in its path
Her body, overtaken,
Succumbed.
Pain
Clear, constant,
An insistent presence.
No comforting shoulder -
Nor her husband's solid chest
Could obliterate the loss.
Her heart, unable to bear
Its burden
Gave up the fight.
Now the ones left
Have one more to mourn.
The Invisible War
The war is over
There is no war
Invisible dead stare
Their unshed tears flow
Over the bodies we no longer
See on TV.
The farce is played out
As games must
The enthusiasm waning
Lies piled high as ammunition dumps
Remain
Allow the inauguration of a liar
Who dragged the young through
The detritus of his lies
Into the sands of a wounded country
To slice the life out of a place long
Forsaken by its leader and the world
Raped for its oil
The deed done we must run.
What is war
But the stripping of a country
Until down to its underbase
It grovels face in the mud
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