Wall Woodpeckers

Let us not forget

Berlin, the wall

Of 28 years

-Cold War

-Communism

-escapism

To democratic

Capitalist

West

With watchtowers

And anti-vehicle

Trenches

-guard dogs

And flood lights

-barbed wires

And trip-wire machine guns

About 130 people died

Trying to cross

-shot or fatally wounded

Or taken by their own hand

After so many failed attempts

-a wall marked by graffiti on the West side

Over 5,000 escapees (out of an estimated 10,000 who tried)

-fled through secret tunnels

-crawled through sewers

-fugitives

J.F.K. stating “It’s not a

Very nice solution,

But a wall is a

Hell of a lot better

Than a war…”

The East wall a

Dumping ground to the West Berliners

-for their trash

And let’s not forget

What was lost:

-dividing friends and families

-loss of jobs and livelihood

Trapped on the wrong side

And to think

-that by mistake

The Iron Curtain

Would come down

Nearly 30 years later

Is an epiphany

-a wake-up call

I wish we

Could see

Now and not

Later…