A Flying Head, as depicted in Iroquois mythology. Mohawk Nation.
Trifecta of Inexcusability Part One: Unshakable Shadow
When power uses darkness to erase
a people due to practices or place
a karmic black hole magnet does ensue
that timeless reckoning will follow you.
All atoms spin, recycled, so they say
You won’t escape it on your dying day.
A stain is cast upon you, yes, it’s true
that timeless reckoning will follow you.
Be arrogant or sneaky with your part
yet Gaia groks the spirit in your heart.
As genocide’s unconscionable taboo
means timeless reckoning will follow you.
You’ll beg relief each time you cycle round
Alas a deafness to your cries abound.
Such things as empathy are not for you
for timeless reckoning has followed you.
The trifecta of inexcusability for me are rape, starvation, and genocide. In this “complaint” I focus on those who willfully commit or endorse genocide. I may write complaints about the other two in the future.
Grace is today’s host of dVerse’ Meeting the Bar/Form. Grace says:
Write a poem of complaint, which is a poem that laments or protests unrequited love or tells of personal misfortune, misery, or injustice.
Complaint, sometimes called Jeremiad is a genre of poetry that carries a theme of bitter sorrow. The rhetoric is "rails against cruel fate." By the Middle Ages there were loosely 3 types of Complaint:
1. satirical poems exposing evil in the world.
2. didactic verse focusing on the decline of someone "great" and
3. verse lamenting over unrequited love.
Although there is not always a specific structure identified with this genre, an interpretation of the Complaint made popular by Scot poet, William Dunbar's (1460-1520) Lament for Makers , is framed:
1. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
2. metered, often iambic or trochaic tetrameter.
rhymed, rhyme scheme aabB ccbB ddbB etc. B being a refrain
Specific supportive documention from one such attempt at Turtle Talk.
Tao Talk 
Such a hard theme to write but it is a dark reality that we cannot escape. Your opening lines quickly set this tone. Love that sense of reckoning with the line: that timeless reckoning will follow you. I am happy that this poem format allowed you to share your thoughts on “trifecta of inexcusability”.
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Grace, I appreciate you creating a space to speak on difficult topics with your prompt. I would have never written this poem without it. I do plan on finishing the other two at some point in time now also, and for that, thank you.
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You’ve used the form like a rapier, Li. After the horrors of the genocides through history, the holocausts, the holodomor in the last century, to see it happening again with impunity stuns me. The “timeless reckoning” can’t come soon enough.
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Dora, thank you very much. I think it’s already in motion for the aware and the still-oblivious.
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Lisa, such a poignant poem, so eloquently written brings home the horrors we see daily at the moment.
a karmic black hole magnet does ensue
that timeless reckoning will follow you.
Karma indeed, hopefully very soon.
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Di, thank you. I think it is already in motion. No matter what mr small tool does publicly imagine the emptiness of the shadows.
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Very moving poem Li. Genocide is a crime that is being ignored by everyone
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:(
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🥲
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I’m with you on these themes, Lisa, and look forward to the other two poems in your trifecta of inexcusability. I believe in what goes around comes around, but sadly we might not get to see ‘timeless reckoning’ it in our lifetime. We must believe in the ‘karmic black hole magnet’.
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Well-said, Kim. I have unwavering faith in it.
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Lisa, this is intense! The repeated line really hits hard, and the imagery you use makes it so powerful… 👏
Much love,
David
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Genocide is “intense.” Thanks much, David.
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Thanks for sharing this, I like how you used the energy of the Iriquous.
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Much appreciated, and that image called to me.
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This is what happening right as we speak, the form works so well to express this.
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Bjorn, I started looking back and across and see how long it has managed to continue and am both mystified and enraged. HOW? Maybe those evil ones carrying through incarnations, knowing they are already damned, don’t give a … and keep perpetuating evil.
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I have to leave my comment here, as you took the words right out of my mouth Li, what other explanation can there be for how this could continue to happen over and over again Powerful, powerful writing!
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Violet, it feels that way. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
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I wish I believed in that Karma. (K)
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It’s one of the things that keeps me going. Do you think any of these bozos will be held accountable in some way?
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No. Not by man or any deity.
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<3
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really great job, Lisa. <3
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May the reckoning come sooner rather than later. Great poem, Lisa!
Yvette M Calleiro :-)
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Yvette, THANK YOU, YES.
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Your words resonated so much……you cannot imagine….well, Li, I know you can…what they did, the Russian horde in the month they stayed in Bucha, Ukraine, leaving end May 22., You cannot believe the rape, murder..executions..and then praised by Putin…I won’t say anything about the poor, poor underage girls because it will look gratuous, but the rape, torture and murder of young women stand out in a barbarity that is not comprehendable. Nearly every day I think of what they went through and I cannot change it. There is some salvation seeing the commitment in your words. Thank you for such superb writing…
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Words escape me now after reading your comment
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Wonderful title for this timely poem. Your refrain was perfect.
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Sara, thanks much.
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