BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag

Subject: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 06:05 PM

The Burning of the Reichstag

In open mouthed horror
We watched as the plane
Thudded into the side of the building
Flames pouring out the windows
In a shower of death, glass, and steel
Raining ash on the frozen masses below
As dying screams plummeted to the earth.
Then the other tower was struck
Erupting in a ball of Hell
Hungry fire consuming
Flesh and blood
Steel and concrete
And the souls of those who waited
In the floors above
Staring out the shattered windows
Pleading for help that could not arrive
Before taking their leap of faith
Into the streets below
Uniformed men and women rushing in
Fighting the sea of panic
Swirling from the buildings
And the towers collapse
In a cloud of dust and smoke and ash
Burying those inside
A tomb of rubble
In less than an hour Coyote
Asserted himself as a leader
In less than an hour a nation was changed
Forever.

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: Gareth
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 07:00 PM

Interestingly - Lubbers - The Scape Goat, desapite being condemned to death was kept in Prison till 1944 - Then executed Presumably before he could be liberated, and talk.

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: M.Ted
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 09:24 PM

I thought you meant the Reichtag-

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: Amergin
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 12:14 AM

well i wrote this one this morning...nice that no one has commented on it...

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 12:50 AM

Well, I'll say this. Like the blowing up of the Maine in 1898 (possibly an accident, due to a slow fire in the coal bunkers), nothing could have proven more fortuitous for an irresponsible American administration bent on committing aggression in distant places upon spurious excuses, and expanding their imperial holdings.

Whether they actually planned it...or merely let it go forward...remains to be seen, but they certainly found it advantageous in a number of respects, both foreign and domestic (invasion abroad, abrogation of civil liberties and muzzling of political opposition at home).

The former owners of the twin towers may have found it advantageous too, since the buildings were in the red (so I've heard), and changed hands shortly before they were destroyed.

This in no way implies a lack of compassion on my part for those who lost their lives there...quite the contrary.

Does it look suspicious? Yes, very. Was it another Reichstag fire? We may never know.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: mack/misophist
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 01:19 AM

Personally, I prefer verse. The event still looms too large for a less than magnificent poem. Now that I think of it, I don't believe it's right to put Coyote in there. He's tricksy and amoral but not vicious. Bush is tricksy, immoral, and vicious.

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: Amos
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 09:55 AM

Nathan:

This thing has some power to it, because of the title more than anything.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: GUEST,amergin
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 10:55 AM

one of the reasons i chose coyote (besides the obvious tricksters he is)...is because where I'm from coyotes are known for their cowardice as well...unless they're travelling in packs.

i just want to apologise for my actions the last couple of days as well....it was uncalled for.

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 12:00 PM

Big problem that every one has when writing about this event is that it is so full of extremes that the mind is quickly overloaded--there is too much to describe--there are no words than can adequately convey it--and one is shocked into numbness by the enormity--

So when there are no words and no emotions sufficient to portray the event, the artist is in kind of a bind--

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: Amos
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 12:03 PM

Thanks, NAthan.


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Burning Of The Reichstag
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 04 Oct 03 - 04:25 PM

Gareth, you must have mixed up two very different men:

Ruud Lubbers: Dutch prime minister long after the war and later UN high commissioner for refugees.

Marianus van der Lubbe: the man who was accused (and according to more recent research actually responsible) for burning the Reichstag.

Wolfgang