Letting silence rule

· by · in dVerse, poetry. ·

The rain that day…
an open wound — bleeding
in ferocious silence.

We imagined Kyiev,
a widow raped,
until
the tanks ran out of gas.

Three years later,
by treason
the tanks may move again.

Why let
such silence rule?

Broken Russian tanks transformed to an action comic scene by ChatGPT

Today we will be working with hook-lines to start a poem at dVerse hosted by Kim. I hope my first three lines captured my emotions in those first days of the Russian attack on Kyiev.

April 29, 2025

35 responses to “Letting silence rule”

  2. First poem of the evening and I’m hooked, Björn! Nothing like a powerful image with an oxymoron to get my attention, and you kept it. The shock is in the second stanza with Kyiv as a raped widow.

  3. This is absolutely stellar writing here, Bjorn! I too, was hooked by the opening line.

    The second stanza is raw and poignant. I can’t even imagine .. the pain, the loss during those first days of the Russian attack on Kyiev 😦

  6. First stanza is stunning and sets the mood. I felt sadness all over again because of what happened. The silence though is repressive because I am aware that much fighting is done underground. Good one Bjorn.

  9. It’s an ongoing nightmare that didn’t need to be except for one man’s mad ambition and lust for power.

  13. Ferocious silence, not only an oxymoron, as Kim says, but also a somatic reality that I have experienced (and still do, unless I pour on the antidote).

    But there I go again, reading the political as personal…!

  20. Your opening lines bring it all back, and the wounds it has left are still bleeding indeed, and seem like perhaps they will never heal. The world is suddenly upside down and broken, and never more so than in the landscape your poem occupies.

  23. Bjorn, your hook line poem overwhelmed ~ will it ever end. OR it will never end.

  24. You clocked us with those opening lines, Björn. The world is “bleeding/in ferocious silence” in too many places around the world, as if one isn’t enough.

I try to reciprocate all comments. If you want me to visit a particular post, please direct me directly to that post.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.