Category: 3. Poems

Dirty, rotten scoundrels

Without contrition

without dignity, honour

or integrity

 

The self-styled ‘king of the world’

shows his true colours again

 

by Scooj

 

I didn’t think that I could be upset by Boris Johnson any more. He represents nothing that I believe in, but by jingo he has done it again by his pathetic and snivelling defence of Dominic Cummings’ wrongdoings. Remember this lot will ‘win at any cost’. Well sometimes good governance is not about winning, but is about learning from mistakes and moving on, bringing the people with you for the greater good. I am so saddened by what is going on.

 

How dare you?

 

Humiliated

world leaders get dressing down

for complacency.

It takes determination

and courage to do these things.

 

by Scooj

 

Greta Thunberg is an extraordinary young woman. She has managed to bring a difficult message to the world stage and has been given tremendous exposure. I believe her when she says that she will not give up, and I believe that what we are witnessing is the beginning of a movement for change the likes of which we have not seen before.

Her speech is here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2019/sep/23/greta-thunberg-to-world-leaders-how-dare-you-you-have-stolen-my-dreams-and-my-childhood-video

Of course there are those who say that they agree, BUT (remember everything before the but is bullshit) that it can’t be done, that her demands are unrealistic. Those people are in my view wrong and this excuse has been used as a reason for inertia for decades. Had we been taking action 30 years ago, the urgency of action now would not have felt so acute.

The best Donald Trump could come up with on Twitter was this sarcastic comment

‘She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!’

How immature, but then we know all we need to know about Donald Trump. On the other hand Greta Thunberg has behaved with utter dignity and has so much more credibility than any politician I can think of.

I subscribe entirely to Greta Thunberg’s mission and have been waiting for leadership on this issue for decades – little did I think it would come from a Swedish school girl, but then maybe that’s exactly where it needed to come from, from somebody outside the establishment.

The hard work begins now as changes to our learned way of life begin to gain traction. It doesn’t necessarily mean sacrifice, rather it means change, and much of that change will be for the better. Anyhow in its simplest form, the changes are necessary so that our children and their children can live in a world like the one we grew up in (or even better). Do we need any greater incentive than that?

Electric storm

 

Darkest muddy skies

frequent flickering flashes

and muted thunder

 

by Scooj

* That was some electric storm we had over Bristol last night. I cannot recall ever seeing anything like it. We were getting about 20-30 flashes of lightning every minute for more than an hour. It was spectacular. And only one rumble of thunder right at the start, to announce the light show had begun.

 

To Dorchester

 

The engine drags us through

a rich and verdant land

lush from unusually heavy summer rains

 

The rhythm is punctuated by small stations

boasting tidy flowerbeds and once busy buildings

that slumber now as polluting cars

offer a more convenient means of travel

 

I am afforded the luxury of time to think

and to stare out of the window

where I see my life dashing by

each blade of grass a memory lost

 

Closer now to my destination than to my home

the journey has passed all too quickly

I should have liked a little more time, just a little,

to have lingered a while at each of the stops along the way.

 

by Scooj

 

* something of a rarity from me. Always a little nervous of sharing poems other than haikus or tankas.