Raining Fire From the Skies of Ukraine
by Robert M. Katzman March 20, 2022
Like a World-Series of murder
We sit in the stands and watch
Like a bookie in a newsstand
Betting on when they’ll fold
Guys in a bar stare at the screen
Full color killing this time out
No shaky D-Day photography
Advancing the recording of death
***
On the radio solemn voices intone:
“A real-life David and Goliath battle”
While pregnant Ukrainian women
Are crushed under bombs from Russia
This time the arena is the size of Texas
Odds slim: 44 million to 140 million
The audience is the whole damn world
Eight billion munching popcorn, watching
***
Voices say: “Oh God! We should intervene!”
Voices say: “We make a move, nukes will fall”
Cheering when they see a destroyed tank
Sobbing when thousands — thousands– die
Old men, old women, children, hospitals
This is a very old story to people who know
A number, a secret number only a few know
Is when the World decides to go in and kill
***
A million Ukrainians? Five million? Ten?
When the guilt is too much to bear
The tide will swiftly turn, lethal fighter planes
From ten directions, the Europeans will choose to kill
Never a doubt their weapons were more advanced
No hesitations that the Russians were weaker
Jet fighters flying over devastation they allowed
Dead Ukrainians as many as drops of rain
***
This “shooting fish in a barrel” insanity is old news:
Japan slaughtering helpless Koreans and Chinese
Nazis testing their new planes on the Basques
The Fascists in Italy strafing astounded Ethiopians
US Cavalry’s genocide against America’s Indians
Roosevelt not bombing train tracks to Auschwitz, Dachau
America had more important priorities than saving Jews
Nations watching the killing of Ukrainians are guilty
***
In my own tiny life, I know the terror
Trapped in a room as a child and beaten
I was forty pounds, the other 150 pounds
Almost the same numbers as Ukraine and Russia
No one ever intervened for me
No one ever stopped the fists, belts and screaming
Until at fourteen I ran away into the night
But my hate and helplessness never went away
***
Not every person can be a soldier
Seeking vengeance for their shattered country
Not every person can be a politician
Measuring their every word to guarantee re-election
Not every person can be a correspondent
Risking death to tell the world the truth
Me? Words are the only bullets I have now
May my aim be true, the bullets unstoppable
***
I am not smart enough to understand all this
My monstrous childhood was a secret
The whole world watches the killing in Ukraine
I prayed and prayed to a deaf God to come rescue me
I know the consequences will be the consequences
In a thousand years, Ukraine, like me, won’t forget
Time to stop the Russian bully from killing Ukraine
Time to stop the Russian bully from killing Ukraine
Now
***
Publishing News!
Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart and Vol. Two: Fighting Words
Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.
Please visit my new website: https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.
Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:
Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.
Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998 (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM
Books cost $29.95 each, plus shipping
For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95
(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95
I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.
My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.