Hi all, it's been a bit of an up and down week here. We started the week with Aparna Pathak's poem "Intentions" about the Pakistani/India clash that is ongoing in Kashmir. It is a simple yet powerful poem that could apply to most conflict in the world. A bowl of humanity is what is needed.
David Mellor continued his recent run of good poems with "Truce Bomb" about the Syrian rebellion and the West's attitude toward it.
Editor Michael Holloway contributed a great poem "An Evil of Want" about the current British government and their attacks on the most vulnerable people in society. I particularly liked his phrase:
"The small eyes, gap-toothed grin beneath balding head,
laughs without shame or remorse".   
Marie Ryan contributed her first poem to Poetry24 with "Here Comes the Sun" an ironic title considering that the subject is the worsening world situation and containing the memorable line 
"Winter sun skis to April fools."
Nicola Copeland's poem "No Pancakes on Sunday" is a wonderfully sad poem about a British soldier dying from his wounds inflicted when he was in Afghanistan.
All in all it was a great week of poems but we had a break in transmission due to a glitch in scheduling and a low level of submissions. As Abi Wyatt said "Come on guys, it is time to shake off that comfortable and euphoric drowsiness brought on by the excesses of the festive season, time to get your backsides in gear and get down to work."   

It was Sunday.
I heard a gunshot, not so far from where I was standing.
The rain was falling hard now,
it bounced off my helmet like pennies in a sweet jar.
Ting, ting, ting.
Mud had begun to rise further up my legs.
It smelt dirty, hot, and miserable.
This was a long way from home.
I missed the sweet smell of pancakes on a Sunday morning,
and fresh cereal on Mondays.
I was jealous and hated that I had to eat out of a grotty metal tin;
cold beans, hard rice, dirty water.
I can only moan to myself, in my head, inaudible to the rest.
My friend died yesterday.
A bullet zipped through the night air and pierced his left lung.
Unstoppable.
Now, there was more gun fire up ahead.
The air was thick and heavy, suffocating.
I dropped to the floor, repulsing as the dirt invaded my eyes.
With my vision blurred, I crawled to a fortress of rocks.
Looking around I saw an arm leave its body,
a sea of red followed.
The medic attended.
The captain was shouting over the radio for help.
The bullets became heavier and the noise became louder.
I could hear my own breathing over it all,
my heart was beating too fast.
The heat from the blaze seared my skin like boiling water.
I gripped my gun, pulled it to my chest, trigger finger ready.
I thought of home, of the sweet Sunday pancakes.
I looked up to the sun.

© Nicola Copeland 

British soldier who died from wounds named

Nicola Copeland, 25 years old, started writing poetry about 5 years ago. She is studying towards a Masters in Writing from Liverpool John Moores University and blogs at nicolacopelandblog.wordpress.com