Stand Together: A Collection of Poems and Short Stories for Ukraine

 

An eclectic collection of poetry and short prose for Ukraine. Poetry about war, warriors, hope, and sunflowers; multi-genre stories, featuring work from: 
A. L. Butcher, Roman Nyle, Charles Yallowitz
Vickie Johnstone, Andrew P. Weston,
Rebecca Miller, Michael H. Hanson, Victoria Zigler, Joe Bonadonna, Richard Groller
Rhavensfyre, Anthea Sharp, Marta Moran Bishop, Colene Allen, J.C. Fields, Diana. L. Wicker, Inge - Lise Goss, Sean Poage
and Rebecca Lacy (multiple contributions by several)

The Stories and poetry are in a mix of US and UK English. The authors, editor, and cover designer have given their work and time for free to support those people fleeing war in Ukraine and its terrible consequences.

All royalties raised will go to humanitarian charities.

Stand Together is an important Anthology on its own... Even more so because all proceeds will go together humanitarian charities supporting the Ukraine War and its terrible consequences... My first post announcing the book can be found by checking the top location in the right column...

Reviewing an anthology is not the easiest thing to do... Simply because there are so many different stories, some of which a reader may not enjoy as much as others. Of course, I found this to be true. However, there were many poems and short stories that clearly warrant a "recommended" notice from me... 

More importantly, I hope that each reader who sees this review will realize that the most important aspect of buying this book is to help those in Ukraine who continue to suffer under an autocrat who leads the country and has chosen to bring war for no other reason than his own quest for power...

Michael H. Hanson, speaks eloquently in just a few words in his "Wounds in Ukraine": The deepest wounds are in Ukraine, raw ruptures in both flesh and earth wrought by this age’s darkest bane granting young souls a dire breech birth...

Yet all of the mext words spoke to me, "Those Who Divide" by Charles E. Yallowitz, seemed more about here in America, and yet, it seems also, everywhere...

Those Who Divide 

Charles E. Yallowitz 

They are the ones with voice

 Born with a power

 To influence and talk

 Expected to lead us

 Into the better world 

But they always fall

 Swallowed by the sins

 Pride and greed 

Vanity and wrath 

They are twisted

 By society’s pull

 Their voices turn to evil

 Spouting hate and fear

 Causing friends to fight

 And families to splinter

 Neighbors become enemies

 They ignore their damage

 Seeing only the faithful 

The ones bowing at their feet

 This praise is tainted

 Grown from ignorance and terror

 Yet it is not enough

 Drunk of power

 from their voice

 They become the great dividers

 Crying for action

 And hurling childish insults

 At those who don’t agree

 Blindly building a void

 A pit of animosity

 Between our fellow man

 Until the pit is all we see

 And their putrid voices

 Are all we hear.

***

Then Andrew Weston, worried as to whether we will reach the point of Indifference, in his poem Lodestone... while Vickie Johnstone cries out her words about Rape in Ukraine, the words so horrific yet we know they represent the truth of war...

And I begin to realize that this is not the kind of book that you would want to recommend as a must-read. And yet, it is that, just because it is so horrific in Truth... Surely we want to seek God... But God is not in War... God is Not in Hate and Violence... Yet the words continue... And we find God is with each who mourn of war...

Anthea Sharp moves to write a short story, entitling it The Tree of Fate and Wishes and begins with a young child waking from a dream of blood and ashes, only to learn that it had been decided...War...

Tell me, readers, how do you proceed to talk about children who face being in the midst of war? Then another starts talking about the smells of the results of war brought by one to another...knowing that smoke, blood and more will stay for days, for weeks and longer...

But not all stories are sad, a number look to older days of another time, a distant past, while another will find that there was once two brave girls who decided they were going to do something to stop the war...and of course, the happiness and joy that followed... But also...

Is War really just a part of normal living? I don't think so...and neither do the writers who have donated their words, their writing endeavors, to help those who are living within Ukraine under such dire circumstances... All of us must work together...Stand Together, to try to get past this chaotic period of hate and destruction...All we would need to do is Love Our Neighbors... Is that so hard to do? For surely there is something less than war, hatred and violence in our future... For this we cry out...

God Bring Us Through...

Gabby

Stand Together: A Collection of Poems and Short Stories for Ukraine - Seeking Support!!!! Spotlighting - The War That Was Not A War by A. L. Butcher

 The Stories and poetry are in a mix of US and UK English. The authors, editor, and cover designer have given their work and time for free to support those people fleeing war in Ukraine and its terrible consequences.

All royalties raised will go to humanitarian charities.

YOU GOT TO BE FREE!

The War That Was Not A War A.L. Butcher

Never forget those who fell, 

In a war which they said was not a war.

 

Never forget those who will fall,

 In the war which is not a war.

 Never defeated, never cowed,

 In the war which was not a war.

 Never broken, never afraid, 

In the war which was not a war.

 Never giving in to those who spilt blood, 

In the war which was not a war.

 A people stood, defiant, proud,

 Against the war which was not a war. 

The whisper became a cacophony, 

Against the war, 

for it was a war.

~~~

Months ago in a discussion with my best friend, I had identified my opinion of the "Who," the people who are involved, separately, in where we seemed to be heading... but believed they would not succeed.  I pinpointed Donald Trump of the United States, V. Putin of Russia, Netanyahu. Prime Minister of Israel, and Ali Hosseini Khamenei of Iran as fanatical dictators who would, if allowed, destroy the world as we know it. Other than perhaps Putin, all of these leaders were in some way attached to religion as a seeming partner in the desire for control, to ensure "their" way was the only way. I do not believe this as God's Plan. Yes, He gave His Son. But what has many of those who accepted Christ done with that? America, now has more murders than in other country in the world. America has had the first and only Insurrection in our Nation. America has more guns, my guess, than any other country in the world. 

Yet, Our Democracy is based upon Freedom. Freedom to be who you are. Freedom to love and be happy. Freedom to simply...Be... That's why, under Joe Biden, people are flocking to America. But Trump has stopped Congress from doing what is necessary to Implement Plans for Routine Management and control. Biden's plan was presented early in his administration... the republican party has prevented action... A new bi-partisan bill was presented within the last year and would have surely been accepted. Trump prevented it...

I applaud Stand Together! I will be reading the book and talking about it as time goes by... I pledge to keep it visible... I support Ukraine's freedom because it is a Democracy. I believe that His Second Coming will be when the entire world--earth--will be Free. Until then, we who Know Him, rejects violence of all kinds. We reject Men who want nothing more than their own power and use violence in any form to achieve that goal. God is Love; God is Truth! Seek Out the Truth in All Things... When somebody tells you that an invasion of Ukraine was not a war... It is a Lie. When somebody tells you that the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol was not an Insurrection. It is a Lie. To support Ukraine, is to support America... To support any peoples who are acted upon with violence, does not require total annihilation of a group of people. Violence begets Violence. Wars begin with hate. Wars begin with Lies. Wars Begin with Greed. War, What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing!

 

...To take each moment, and live each moment, in peace eternally, let there be peace on earth...and let it begin with me, you, writers, readers, whatever God's talent you have--artists, doctors, nurses, wives, mothers...all of us who God Created... We Are All God's Children! From America, From Ukraine, From Russia, From Israel, From Iran, From Brazil, Fram Argentina, From Mexico, From Canada...

And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:4).