Tuesday 29 November 2011

Blessed are the Peacemakers

People are afraid. They do not know what is going to happen in these uncertain times. They fear that the Devil is abroad.

Today's high priests on their golden thrones in their palaces and other places of power are corrupt beyond belief. They have lost sight of the true message and the reason we are here on this Earth. They are only interested in their own narrow spectrum of self-interest. They even have their own banks and their own soldiery. They excuse all manner of violence. They are not the Peacemakers.

I abandoned them when I discovered they had abandoned the path of peace - if they had ever been on it which I doubt. The whole history of the world's 'official' religions is a bloody nightmare. I will have no part of it. Jesus said: If God were your Father you would love me.


The teachers of the Law
brought in a woman.

They said: In the Law
Moses commanded us
to stone such a woman.

And He said: Let him
who is without sin
throw the first stone.

Those who heard this
went away one by one
- only the woman was left.

He said to her: I do not
condemn you. Go now.

_________________
image:
Markus Schinwald
Austrian Pavilion
Venice Biennale 2011

Monday 28 November 2011

haiku





snow on the north wind

ducks bobbing in the harbour

last ferry waiting





gw2011/

WWIII Horror Scenario


On Sunday the Kronen Zeitung, Austria's best selling daily newspaper, included a graphic two-page spread outlining the first moves in what it calls the Israel-Iran Blitzkrieg Horror Scenario! or, if I can put it more bluntly, how World War III could begin tomorrow.

The Middle East stands on the verge of a war that could destroy the whole region. Or even most of the world.

Israel's Netanjahu is preparing a first strike against Iran says the Kronen Zeitung which quotes Netanjahu as saying: "If somebody wants to kill you, you have to kill him first."

This is a clear example of post-Holocaust mentality at its most dangerous.

Here is the Kronen Zeitung scenario:

Israel would attack Iran not only with its air force but with missiles fired from its submarines. Israel's 5 German produced Dolphin-class U-boats are reported to be equipped with nuclear weapons.

The paper goes on to claim that Iran's leader Ahmadinejad, speaking on Lebanon TV said: "Iran has decided that Israel must be extinguished."

The IAEA, with its HQ here in Vienna, has said that it believes that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. Without question this would threaten Israel, says the Kronen Zeitung.

Ex-Mossad boss Meir Dagan warns Israel against attacking Iran. "Such an attack would be stupid. Israel would have to pay a terrible price," he says. Iran would retaliate with its Shahab-III rockets. Hundreds would be killed in Israel . . .

Iran's rockets could also reach parts of Europe. Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Rumania are within range.

And that's how Day 1 of WWIII could easily play out.

Day 2 is anybody's guess. Nuclear powers Russia and China have interests in Iran. Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons . . .

The way to stop this potential madness is for President Obama to act immediately and stop the Netanjahu plan before it goes any further.

The Palestinian question must then be seriously addressed by all parties. A just solution must be found.

The future of civilization is on the line. It cannot be allowed to depend on unpredictable events and the whims of various factions in the Middle East. There must be a forum where the region's problems can and will be thrashed out.

We need people with integrity to run this new forum. The usual suspects, those who have failed us before, must not be permitted to take part or to interfere in the process. They have proven time and again that their real interests lie beneath the sands and on the stock markets.

When the process has been completed there will then be no need for Israel to have nuclear weapons or for Iran or any other country to develop more nuclear weapons. There are already more than enough nuclear weapons to completely destroy every major city on the planet and bring on the nuclear winter.

The world's nuclear powers must return to the disarmament table.

"Jaw jaw is better than war war!" as Winston Churchill said.

Sunday 27 November 2011

I come from a lost village

"The radioactive contamination in the Ukraine makes the children weak and often causes them to be very ill. Poverty makes the situation worse. The children require wholesome food, vitamins and medicines to see them through the winter." Global 2000 leaflet

'Don't think Chernobyl can't happen to you'

A leaflet has arrived. Actually it is not really a leaflet. It's a sheet of 100% recycled A4 printed on both sides and folded over twice.

Accompanying the sheet of paper there is a small square of beeswax which can be rolled like a cigarette and used as a small candle. It's an early Christmas present from Project-Tschernobyl-Kinder and Global 2000.

What does the leaflet say? It says that the Ukraine is divided into zones based on the levels of contamination. It says that there are 3 "very dangerous zones" and 3 "critical zones". These are shown in two shades of red. A small map shows that these 6 zones are to be found not only in the north, where Chernobyl itself is situated, but also in the east and the south-east of Ukraine. They include the cities of Kharkov, Lugansk, Saporozhje, Donetsk, and Dnepropetrovsk. Cities you have probably never heard of. Places you never hear about on the news.

There are 3 other contaminated areas. These are shown in orange and include Zhitomir and Vinnitsa in central Ukraine, and Lutsk in the northwest. Approximately 40% of surface area of Ukraine is contaminated.

At this time 2.3 million Ukrainians live in contaminated areas. This figure includes 500,000 children. Of these children, 80% are sick. That's what the leaflet says. Examples of children's illnesses are given: thyroid cancer, leukemia, bone cancer, muscle and bone atrophy, defective immune system. The 3 main causes for the children being sick are hereditary genetic defects caused by radiation, and contaminated farmland and water.

Several hundred tons of highly radioactive rubbish was removed from Chernobyl. So where is it today? No-one knows exactly but we can be sure that much of it is buried near houses and gardens, in the fields and near wells and springs, and in places where people live.

Over the last 15 years Global 2000 has been responsible for bringing more than 1,700 children to Austria to convalesce or to receive medical treatment they cannot obtain in Ukraine. They have also distributed more than €3,000,000 in direct aid. In addition, in Kharkov a hospital for children has been built, in Lugansk a centre for handicapped children has been constructed and in Antratsit a birth clinic.

Meanwhile, despite protests, a long slow train loaded with plutonium is trundling along from France to Germany.

Don't think Chernobyl can't happen to you.

Fukushima still rages out of control, and some would say conveniently out of the news. It may be our final warning.


Mainichi Daily News update: The odds of a big tsunami on the east coast of Japan during the next 30 years is rated 30%. The 8.5 quake (est.) of 1896 caused a 38.2 meter (125 ft) tsunami.

Energy News update: Fukushima fallout now confirmed in all prefectures in Japan.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Ludwig Hirsch (1946 - 2011) the Last Poet


It's not every day that the death of a writer is the main headline news on the front page of a national newspaper.

Death of the Last Poet is the headline here.

It appears that Ludwig Hirsch threw himself out of a second floor window of a Vienna hospital. He was being treated for lung cancer. Hirsch was a heavy smoker.

To Austrians he was famous for his 'dark gray songs'. It was with his 1978 album Dunkelgrau Lieder that he made his breakthrough.


He will be remembered for the song Komm großer schwarzer Vogel - Come great black bird - which he penned in 1979.

The words of the song proved to be somewhat premonitory. They will undoubtedly become Hirsch's epitaph. I shall attempt to translate some of them; to make a poetic translation that is. Ludwig Hirsch, may your splendid poetry await you!

Komm großer schwarzer Vogel, komm jetzt!

Schau, das Fenster ist weit offen,
schau, ich hab Zucker aufs Fensterbrett g'straht.
Spann' Deine weiten, sanften Flügel aus
und legs' auf meine Fieberaugen!
Bitte, hol mich weg von da!
Und dann fliegen wir rauf,
mit in Himmel rein . . .
Press' Deinen feuchten, kalten Schnabel
auf meine Wunde, auf meine heiße Stirn!
Jetzt wär's grad günstig!
Die anderen da im Zimmer schlafen fest
und wenn wir ganz leise sind,
hört uns die Schwester nicht!

Come great black bird, come now!

Look, the window is wide open,
Look, sugar is spread on the window-sill.
So spread your wide soft wings
and let them cover my fevered eyes!
Please, take me away from here!
And soon we both shall fly
into the clear sky . . .
Now press your cold damp beak
upon my wound and on my burning brow!
Ah, that was really good! The others
are sound asleep within this room
and if we are very quiet
the sister will not hear us!

trans:
gw2011/

Coluim Wallace (1796 - 1906) the Old Poet

An Irish poet
of the genuine coin
and stamp

He hailed from
Lettermullen

His head was a trove
of handpicked humour
and farfetched oddments

His songs were
flights and fancies . . .

-

A barefooted gossoon . . .

he lived through the 'stirring epoch'
as P H Pearse called it

In An Claidheamh Soluis
one time

-

. . . 'twas the 'stirring epoch'

of the Irish famine
the French at Killala
of O'Connel for Clare
of Waterloo
of Robert Emmet
in Marshallsea Lane

-

In later years

the poet grew old
and broke
and blind . . .

He entered Oughterhead
Workhouse

And it was there
that he
sang his very last note
and they all agreed
that he'd always
be remembered . . .

as the oldest man
in Connemara!

____
Wallace lived in three centuries:
the 18th, 19th and 20th and when
he died he was 110 years of age.

Friday 25 November 2011

Notice on a wall at a Rene´Magritte exhibition

This is not an image of a church window

On the wall by the smallest space in the exhibition is the following notice:

Not suitable for young visitors under 16.
There are works in this room that might
hurt your religious or aesthetic feelings.

I am over 16. I have no official religion. My aesthetic feelings are already all atingle.

After van Gogh, Magritte is my favourite artist. I'm on safe ground here. I enter the cupboard sized room.

The first thing I see is Rene Magritte's painting of a giraffe standing in a tall crystal glass. It's long neck is protruding. There are also pencil sketches or maybe they were pen and ink drawings, I can't remember now.

In one particular picture the organ that the priest or the bishop is playing is clearly not the church organ. You may now imagine what kind of organ it is.

The picture of the priest or bishop at the organ is obviously one of the works referred to on the notice outside the black curtain that I have just passed through.

Judging by the plethora of recent news reports and the amount of compensation paid to victims by the Holy See, it would appear that many thousands of boys, mostly under 16, have already seen the church organ in the flesh.

Many of the boys, now men, are currently receiving psychological counseling. Hard information regarding the fates of the various organ playing priests or bishops is sparse.

I presume they are keeping their heads down; keeping a low profile.

In the first room of the exhibition I was told to put my camera away. In the absence of a giraffe in a glass I give you an illuminated waterfall. I took the photo in Italy from a low angle.
____
at Albertina, Vienna
until February 2012

Thursday 24 November 2011

Monolith, Co. Clare

When I was in Ireland in 2005 I had a rather unnerving experience next to a monolith. Now going through some old papers I was reminded of it.

When

I
stood
alone and gazed

In
deepest
thought

And
in the fog

Before
The Stone
upon the heath

A
field
of energy

Entered
my space

And
all at once

There

At
my side

Was
the ghostly

Specter

Of

A
giant beast

Now
come
to pass

A
stream
of
w
a
t
e
r

and
having
done so

it
s
l
o
w
l
y

turned

and
left me

with

a
plaintive
m
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

so
deep

and
long
.
.
.

'twas
the somber tone
of its great fog-horn


UFOKU!

Earth - the blue planet

NASA archives hacked!
Top secret photo reveals the truth!
Newton got it wrong!

gw2011/

Wednesday 23 November 2011

haiku


it was only a twig

'til I looked through a lens

and composed myself


gw2011/

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Give me some truth



The above quotation comes from John Lennon. It serves to highlight a major problem in the world today. Politicians of every stripe and colour are unable to give us the truth. And the reason is as clear as the nose on your face.

Corruption.

Corruption in high places has been on the agenda for years. It is now the daily norm. But times, as they say, are changing. Fear is at work.

No-one knows how to handle the demonstrations and protests sweeping the globe. The traditional answer was a military crackdown or another war. But history teaches that these methods cannot succeed in the long run.

Today in the so-called western democracies politicians, fearing economic collapse and anarchy, are using the forces of law and order to shore up their precarious positions.

Peaceful protests are being broken-up by men in Darth Vader gear using tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets, truncheons and pepper spray.

Intellectuals fear they will soon have no voice, blue collar workers fear they will soon have no jobs, the housewife fears she will soon have no bread to put on the table*, and the students fear they will have to spend the rest of their lives in deep financial debt.

The time has now come for the world's leaders to come clean. The big shake-up is here. It is not going to go away. Corruption in high places must now be exposed.

Those responsible for bringing the world to the edge of the pit must surely be dealt with. Financial meltdown and anarchy are the two sides of their counterfeit coin. War must follow.

Sadly, so far as one can see, nobody is standing up to save us. Not one person in a position of high authority is prepared to grasp the nettle of truth.

It's not looking too good.**
______
gw2011/
*1 in 3 US children reported to be living in poverty
** Mike Gravel (an ex-US senator) paints the following WWIII doomsday scenario: Israel bombs Iran, Iran bombs Israel, Israel nukes Iran, Pakistan nukes..., the US nukes..., China nukes...,

US Poet Laureate faces Darth Vader cops

In the current online Opinion Section of the New York Times Sunday Review the 70 year old former American Poet Laureate and Professor of Poetics Robert Hass writes about the day he faced a line of "Alamada County deputy sheriffs in Darth Vader gear".

"The description for what I tried to do is 'remonstrate'," explains Hass who saw his wife "knocked down" by a deputy at a recent University of California demonstration.

"I screamed at the deputy, 'You just knocked down my wife for Christ's sake!' " he said.

For voicing his troubles the septuagenarian Professor of Poetics and former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets was "whacked hard in the ribs twice and once across the forearm".

According to Hass two of his colleagues at the demonstration were also victims of Darth Vader justice.

Celeste Langon, a Wordsworth scholar, was "dragged across the grass by her hair" and poet Geoffrey O'Brien "had a broken rib," said Hass.

The Democracy Now TV link in the sidebar is a convenient way to keep abreast of newsworthy events.

Time to say thank you

A warm welcome to all my new readers; and, of course, to all my old readers too. Many of you have been visiting here since the start in 2007.

There have been nearly 10,000 visits to Poet-in-Residence during the last 30 days. More than 400 visitors looked first at my short poem The Computer.

If you haven't yet read The Computer and would like to do so simply enter the title of the poem in the 'Four years of wordplay' search box.

I am humbled and at the same time delighted with the way things are going.

As a result of all this enthusiasm and interest I am now going through my many boxes of papers and rediscovering some of my earlier works.

I am revising these poems and placing them, as I go, on my Poetry Rat page which is just one click away. There I hope to assemble, over the next year or so, the best of my work for your pleasure and enjoyment.

Thank you all.

Monday 21 November 2011

Babylon Revisited in haiku building blocks

Inspired by an email from blogger Jim Murdoch at The Truth About Lies, I wondered if Babylon Revisited, the F. Scott Fitzgerald booklet of three short stories (free with The Daily Telegraph) would provide a stimulating haiku or two for my amusement. Or maybe three. In the event it was five. So I thought I'd share them with you.

My eyes almost glazed over when I saw the final paragraph of the final story of the three, The Lost Decade. There, at first glance, was a gem to be found.

then he reached out
his thumb against the granite
the building by his side

I then turned to the middle story, The Cut Glass Bowl. Fitzgerald, as we know, can round a circle. Even two circles simultaneously. Sure signs of a good writer.

a rough stone age
and a smooth stone age
and a cut-glass age

bonbon dishes
and after the wedding
the punch-bowls

The struggle for existence is one of the important themes here. If we went on in similar vein we would eventually come to the toothbrush holder and the other shabby genteels on the bathroom shelf. And these we could also use to good effect to reflect and describe the way that our protagonist's life is unfolding; and that is in the manner that Fitzgerald's character Mrs Roger Fairboalt describes as quite artistic.

In the title story Babylon Revisited once we get past the initial exchange of trivia between Charlie and Mr Wales, we can select and adapt a block of text that is equally quite artistic or even, dare I say it, strangely poetic.

Strangely also, the absent waiter is called Paul. But that's another story.

stillness in the Ritz bar
a single pair of eyes fluttering up
from a newspaper

And at the end, 34 pages later, we may round off the tale in appropriate manner.

no more he said
the whisky glass empty
not young anymore

When you have a few minutes to spare why not choose a favourite book and try the exercise for yourself? You may even find it stimulating.

haiku





by the gray sea

in the cold onshore wind

two friends at play






gw2011/

Sunday 20 November 2011

Trains of thought

Whatever it is you're looking for you won't find it here.
- Raymond Pettibon


Ray's trains of thought
Begin in Oklahoma

One place I've never been
Except in sleep.

To shut your eyes is
Like to travel.

His trains of thought
Have worn the tracks

Where they roar through many
An idle or curious mind.

And out the other side.

But now Ray's iron chariot

Has steamed into
This walking library:

A poet drunk on ink
And HB pencils

Pockets stuffed with papers clipped

Scraps with phrases underlined

Linguistic chaff
And leitmotifs

Homologies
And old delirium.

"Pages
that hold the truth
are blank!"

Ray clips my ticket

It leaves me waiting.

_____
gw2011/


Saturday 12 November 2011

H is for Hospital. V is for Victim.

hospital: n. formerly, a charitable institution for the old or destitute, or for the reception (and education) of the needy young: an institution for treatment of sick or injured: a building for any of these purposes.

Here is a small selection of the victims of Am Steinhof a Vienna hospital run by the Nazis.




These people have one thing in common. They were all murdered.

victim: n. a living being offered as a sacrifice: one subjected to death, suffering or ill-treatment: a prey: a sufferer

Friday 11 November 2011

Pictures at an exhibition...Part 5

There were those who risked their lives to bring the dark secrets of Am Steinhof to the world. Anyone caught taking a photograph of a suspicious column of smoke would face interrogation and torture by the Gestapo and certain death.

Many clergymen, like the Bishop of Münster, refused to be silenced. His outspoken words were printed and distributed from the air by the Royal Air Force. Hundreds of courageous Austrian priests who spoke out against Nazi atrocities, or who were members of secret resistance groups, were murdered by the Nazis.

School teachers were drafted into the Nazi military machine, and were replaced in schools by Nazi instructors sometimes known as brown sisters. Young children were brainwashed by these Reich-appointed educators. Older children were instructed to eavesdrop on their parents and report overheard conversations to their new teachers. They were also made to write poems in praise of Adolf Hitler for their homework assignments.

One of the 800 children who perished at Am Steinhof was a member of Adolf Hitler's family. Insane.

Pictures at an exhibition...Part 4

The man in the centre is Doctor Heinrich Gross, the head of Am Steinhof. He was never convicted of his crimes.


Example of Nazi Propoganda...>>>


















One Jewish doctor decided that the Vienna of 1938 was not a healthy place for him to remain. The photograph (left) shows Dr Sigmund Freud looking out of a train window in Paris. He is on his way to London. The illustration on the right is from a children's comic of the time. It shows a blonde Aryan girl facing a lecherous Jewish doctor.

Pictures at an exhibition. . .Part 3


The pursuit of phrenology at Am Steinhof involved measuring the size and shape of the head. From the measurements it could be deduced that a patient suffered from a mental abnormality and also in some cases the nature of the mental disease could be recorded: e.g. Mongoloid. The brains of many patients were stored in glass jars in the cellars to await post mortem analysis and further scientific investigation.


In Am Steinhof the colour of an individual's eyes could be a factor in determining his fate. Doctor's used glass marbles such as these for comparison. Your chances of survival were doubtless better if you had blue eyes.




















On the left a chair where a patient would sit to be measured. Note the angular strip of wood used to separate the buttocks. Symmetry, or lack of it, may have been a factor in diagnosing mental illness. On the right a machine for giving electric shock treatment. These kinds of devices are still used to treat schizophrenics. At Am Steinhof the large pads would be affixed to a patient's temples and a sudden jolt of electricity would be transmitted through them which would subdue an excited or aggressive individual. Or maybe result in his death.

(to be continued...)

Pictures at an exhibition. . .Part 2


Professors of eugenics and their ilk produced complicated maps and wall-charts such as the one below claiming to show the spread of different racial groups throughout Europe. These maps were used to support the Nazi's Herrenvolk theory; the idea that there was a superior race of blonde-haired blue-eyed people. This superior race was to be found only in the areas of the map coloured red.

The Poet-in-Residence has red hair and green eyes and was born in Wales (a blue coloured area). Obviously a threat to Herrenvolk theory!

Any potential slave-worker transported to Vienna from the Nazi-occupied lands to the east of Austria would be measured, photographed, fingerprinted and issued with identity papers. Any person being deemed, by reason of racial origin, unsuitable for producing offspring for the Reich would be sterilized on the orders of an appropriate doctor at Am Steinhof.

(to be continued...)

Pictures at an exhibition...Part 1



The Narrenturm

The Fools Tower was Vienna's first mental institution. The building was erected during the reign of Emperor Joseph II. Here the fools were shackled and chained and ruled over by men with bullwhips. The screams could be heard far away. At night the sound was said to terrifying.

Am Steinhof

Today I went to Am Steinhof.

It was from there, as part of the Nazi Euthenasia Programme known as Aktion T4, that 3,200 patients, considered to be a burden on the Reich, were taken away to be murdered. In addition, some 800 sick or handicapped children were murdered on the spot and 3,500 other so-called patients were systematically starved to death or left to die from infections.

Slave labour from Russia and other Eastern states was an important, if not a vital tool, of the Nazi Empire. It was at Am Steinhof that many of these imported workers were forcibly sterlized. Under the Nazi Racial Laws these people were considered unfit to breed.

One of the first exhibits to catch the eye on entering the permanent exhibition on the ground floor of Building V (Social Medicine Centre) at the Otto Wagner Hospital, Baumgartner Höhe, Vienna, is a glass case containing books, and one of them bearing a photograph of the author is more prominent than the rest.


The Exhibition is titled: Der Krieg Gegen Die Minderwertigen (The War Against People of Less Worth).

(to be continued...)

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Prince Charles takes the reins at WWF ... and a poem for Padraic Colum*

a pot-bellied piglet in a local park

As most readers will be aware by now Prince Charles has taken over as president of the World Wildlife Fund.

I mention this because the annual barrage of charity material is already peppering the world's letter boxes.

The WWF thanks me for saving the snow leopard from extinction (I didn't know I had) and informs me that this particular big cat has never killed a human being. My reward is an advent calendar.

Recalling that Jesus himself is said to have driven evil spirits into a herd of pigs thereby forcing them to commit mass suicide, I sadly fail to make the connections between the manic hype of the Christmas season and the sorry and dreadful plight of the world's endangered species - of which Man, living ever more precariously and with the increasing threat of nuclear holocaust, could soon be one. UNSTABLE MINDS ARE RUNNING OUR AFFAIRS.

Perhaps the WWF deal is that animals deserve a Happy Christmas too?

Try entering 'Prince Charles in Galapagos Islands' in this blog's search box if you need some light relief.


Or below, an after hours poem for Padraic Colum*:-


The grunting of pigs

The grunting of pigs
waxes over your sleep

the moon climbs high

3 o'clock you wake up

people pass by

laughing
shouting
and coughing

the moon climbs high

a cellar door slams.

The squealing of pigs
waxes over your sleep

6 o'clock you wake up

people pass by

the jingling
of harness
the rolling of barrels

a cellar door slams

the moon falls down.

______
gw2011/
*Colum assisted James Joyce with the transcription of Finnegans Wake

Tuesday 8 November 2011

The Cross


We the Creator
are in the here and the now
for
Always
and all ways
Our Creation is this Time and Space
with its two endless Lines
Lines with no beginnings and no ends
and
Where the Lines cross
Is where We are
to be found at this very moment
that is already now past
Our centre is fixed
and yet always moving
On that cross
on your neck
and in your rearview mirror
It is
And It is not

gw2011/

The Poet-in-Residence group photo

opened a window
onto the world -
the crash of the glass!
George Szirtes reported on his blog about a singular need we have, which is to take instant photographs of ourselves as if to prove that we have been somewhere or other, or simply in order to admire ourselves.

Like George Szirtes I must confess that I also enjoy taking my photographic self-portrait in front of a mirror or other reflecting surface. But it isn't vanity. I think it's more a desire to see ourselves as others see us, as the poet Robbie Burns put it.

But maybe we are also subconsciously aware of some invisible Other beyond our vision - the heavenly voyeur, as I would term him. Or her. And so, equipped with an instant camera, we react accordingly.

I'll openly admit that I enjoy looking at photos taken by myself and of my self usually engaged in some mild nonsense or other.

As to the photos the news media wants me to pore over I have to say that I detest group photos featuring EU politicians lined up like recalcitrant schoolboys. Does anybody ever look at them? I can't bear too. The hypocrisy of it all almost makes me almost want to puke!

Monday 7 November 2011

mushrooms growing in a garden















"The ethical expression for what Abraham did is that he was willing to murder Isaac."
- Søren Kierkegaard

Before the evening falls to mushroom glow
and the cloud sets free the deadly spore
beg your craftsman make an ark against the ruin
and store the poetry books behind its doors

Aurelius wrote who spoke the truth
and held the glow of first love in his pen
he was from heaven at only one remove
mark well his words and attitude to men

gw2011/

Friday 4 November 2011

Poems by Peter Newton

These two lovely poems, submitted by Peter Newton, arrive here from Poetry Rat, where it was intended to collect some poems for children during 2011.

At Poetry Rat there was a limited response of sufficient standard, unlike the Poetry 2010 Project when I was almost overwhelmed with many excellent contributions (perhaps I set the Poetry Rat bar too high or maybe there is insufficient interest in the idea of bringing modern poetry to the attention of younger readers).

Poetry Rat will now to be used for another project which is to 'collect' my own poetry in bulk.

The first poem was originally published in Atlanta Review and the second in The Adirodack Review.

The Hummingbird

At once, a rage of wings
and emerald stillness
hanging from the fuchsia,
here to repair the flowers,
tinkering
until each bloom
is a bell again

Red-Winged Blackbird

I hear your Morse this morning -
dash dot dot dash
sung, of course, to make it beautiful.
I know what you're saying
because I'm saying the same thing.
Your species and mine are prone
to calling out to our own -
me here here me

_______
c) 2011 - Peter Newton

Thursday 3 November 2011

Collaterally damaged?



On the busy shopping street pavement
Near the 3rd take-away
And the 5th Christmas tree
I suddenly see a man with no legs
Sitting alone with a small paper cup
Positioned between
Where his legs should have been
He is singing a comical song
In a language that is foreign to me
And now when he sees me
Halt in mid-stride
He suddenly stops
And falls silent
As fog
He looks up to me
The twinkle in his eye
He wears a bright smile
His stumps are encased in red socks
I take the coin from my pocket
He raises the cup
With his arm
And it's then that I see
That he has but one arm
I place the coin in the cup
And feel the look of his eye
An eye that sees deep
It touches my soul

gw2011/

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Mind your own business


Two heads are better than one they say, whoever they are, but that's untrue for it all depends on whose heads they are.

Two heads currently worth listening to are those of Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser. They can be found by clicking on MAX KEISER in my A-Z Links or via my RT News Link.

haiku




there before


and standing by the door

my shadow

It is an owl

If
you
who
rest without remorse
and sleep
too light
should ever wonder
who
or what
it is
it is an owl
who turned
to you
and softly laughed
upon your tree
of dreams


gw2011/
A poem for blogger
'Owl Who Laughs'