War

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Lamps

What will be left of Gaza then but dust
And silent echoes in an empty space?
The war against Hamas, he said, was just
His wily smile the answer on his face

What of the little children, the unborn
The doctors, and the journalists who tried
To save them, and record another dawn?
It is because Hamas, he said, they died

Would not the Jews who perished long ago
In Germany and Poland in the camps
Decry this genocide, the winds that blow
The light out from so many other lamps?

You lie, he said. And then the truth appeared
There was no Gaza when the dust had cleared

© Gail Foster 22nd August 2025

Whack-a-Mole

We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal
It’s target practice, not a game
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!

There, over by the water hole
Hey some we kill and some we maim
We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal

Like skinny fishes in a shoal
All move as one and look the same
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!

A few grains in an empty bowl
Is that for what these mothers came?
We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal

She’s running, that won’t save her soul
In vain, and shouting Allah’s name
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!

We’re IDF, that’s how we roll
For Israel, and Bibi’s fame
We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!

© Gail Foster 27th June 2025

Because Hamas

Netanyahu didn’t give
A fuck. ‘Because Hamas!’ he cried
‘The children don’t deserve to live!
Because Hamas the people died!’

And Netanyahu didn’t care
What other countries said or did
His bombs kept falling from the air
On top of where the children hid

‘Because Hamas it is they fall
This isn’t genocide, this war
Is justified, if crime at all
It is because Hamas!’ he swore

‘That from the river to the sea
The Holy Land belongs to me’

© Gail Foster 22nd March 2024

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Tit for Tat

A nursery rhyme about war

When playing games of tit for tat
It’s best that all agree
On which was tit and tat and that
Or all will be at sea
Forever playing tit for tat
For all eternity

That was a tat! That was a tit!
That looked like tat to me!
You started that! I’ll finish it!
And then we’ll go for tea
Another tat! Do you submit?
A tit! Submit to me?

And on they went. A tit, a tat
And never could agree
On which was tat to end the spat
Or tit did start the spree
Forever playing tit for tat
For all eternity

© Gail Foster 15th April 2024

Maskirovka ~ a nursery rhyme

Putin had a little coup
He hadn’t been expecting
While lurking in a Russian loo
Attempting his erecting

Damn Prighozin! I nearly had
A hard on. Proper stonker
And now it’s gone I’m feeling sad
Said Putin. What a plonker

He shut his eyes and tried again
He dressed as Betty Grable
He tried remembering the men
He’d had across his table

But nothing. Except Prighozin
Appearing. Maskirovka!
Said Putin. For the veil was thin
Or was it too much vodka

Fuck Prighozin. Said Putin and
Hey presto! An erection
Three inches in his little hand
Relief and resurrection

He smiled his special Putin smile
And raised an eyebrow slightly
(Been having Botox for a while
A little prick twice nightly)

The work was done, and that was it
Successful masturbation
And finally a face to fit
His special operation

Much prettier than Volodymyr
Zelensky who, said Putin
I tried to take right up the rear
But then he put the boot in

Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s Prighozin
Come in and have some vodka!
Said Putin. For the veil was thin
Or was it Maskirovka

© Gail Foster 24th June 2023

Putin Did A Little Speech

On the occasion of Putin’s state of the nation address after a year of war in Ukraine

Putin did a little speech
The audience looked pretty shot
But sat and listened to him preach
Because they had to. Looked a lot
Like statues, as if some had died
Already, some were nearly dead
And some were simply dead inside
A rictus smile stuck on a head
And on he ranted, on and on
As one by one they fell like flies
Upon the floor - another gone
And then another - in their eyes
Was only darkness. Clear the floor
Said Putin, and then bring me more

© Gail Foster 21st February 2023