Warfare #6: Social Harvest
With Russian sanctions and Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest, the world has plunged into an energy and food crisis.
The golden grain glistens, under deep blue sky
Symbolised in the flags, that they proudly fly
Shimmering fields
Of record yields
That ravenous nations, would normally buy
But Putin’s war’s causing, a whole world of pain
Many countries dependent, on Ukraine grain
The crops are abundant
But growing redundant
He’s blockaded the seaports, in eastern Ukraine
A sea of cereal reaches beyond the horizon
As spikes of fresh wheat, are ready to ripen
But the new grain harvest
Can’t reach its markets
As his military nooses, strangle and tighten
The Black Sea’s barricaded, he won’t unblock it
Farmers feel the pinch, in worn-out hip pockets
Close to enemy attack
Many paddocks turned black
Crops burn in the craters, of Russian rockets
Yellow rays of sunflowers, also stretch to the distance
A symbol of Ukraine’s concerted resistance
Fertile fields of corn
Surround cities war-torn
Countryside and genocide, in striking co-existence
The mosaic of pastures, is eerily ethereal
But a tragic waste, of stranded cereal
Five months have now gone
As the war rages on
How to feed the world, in this real-life serial
The invasion has pervaded every nation
American, European, African or Asian
Putin’s evil war
Washed up on every shore
Crisis what crisis, it’s a worldwide contagion
To vulnerable countries, food can’t be supplied
Their staple diets, are being denied
No maize, barley, wheat
For flour and bread that they eat
Left hungry are millions, of people worldwide
So every region’s responded to Putin, en masse
Europe closed its pipeline of Russian gas
But the cut-off supply
Shot the gas price sky high
A global energy plight, now mires the morass
Yes, Putin’s war’s hurting the world population
Like when we fill up, at the petrol station
Fuel bills so high
Bring a tear to the eye
Because of sanctions on Russian oil exportation
Families facing a food, and energy crisis
As they struggle to pay, skyrocketing prices
For their fuel and power
For lettuces and flour
Just the tip of the figurative, berg of ices
With the highest of workforce participation
And a steepening spiral of global inflation
They’ve raised interest rates
To step on the brakes
Of consumption post-COVID incarceration
So yonder the hue, of the Ukraine sky
Beyond the food bowl, that money can’t buy
Europe swelters in heat
More Omicron to beat
The calamities we confront … so tomorrow won’t die!
Kevin Holmes • 20th July 2022
