Monday 28 September 2015

Little Green Fish?


PER ASPERA AD ASTRA
NASA is due to reveal new information relating to the red planet at a much hyped press conference later today.

Many of us fervently hope that NASA will present indisputable evidence of life existing or having existed on Mars.

An announcement of that nature, if it were to come, would enable us to evolve as a species to a stage where we can put much hocus-pocus and xenophobic blood-letting behind us, or so one would hope.

Myths and legends of talking snakes and spirits hiding in gardens, and of people living to be a thousand years old and having privileged access to the mind of the creator of the universe, and other tales promulgated as if they were indisputable facts by the those in  unholy pursuance of an outdated agenda, that is to say  by those determined to create sheep-brained marionettes in their own image, belong only in the history books and in the museums, if they belong anywhere at all.



Thursday 24 September 2015

two tracks for a brief moment crossing



Another holy man
this stranger
this sartorial guru
this rucksacked mannequin
at the underground barrier
and me
phone pressed to my ear
escalating swiftly
into the bowels
of the city
two tracks for a brief moment crossing
this preacher
this mystic
this saintly man
 and an over committed
 me
rushing once more
to some nonsense or other
my foot poised
then toeing the escalator
shoe making tentative contact
what did he speak
this prophet
this oracle
this all-seer
armed with his copy of The Watchower 
'The end is nigh
Awake! and repent . . .'
I now recall
 and then . . .
the next words crushed
 the sound of thundering steel
and the squeal of braking wheels
his prophet's message

lost
 on the rushing multitude



Sunday 20 September 2015

The European Chinese Wall Project (under construction)



"protecting the borders"


"there is work here for all"

Erecting 
the 
fence 

and 

protecting 
the 
borders 


million 
press 
on 
to 
enter 
this 
place 


fence 
is 
not 
endless

There 

are 
gaps
in 
the 
fence 

There

is 
work  
here 
for 
all

erecting

more 
fences
and 
mending
the 
holes

Fences

grow 
longer
and 
fences 
grow 
tall

Fences

evolve 
into
WALLS

 










Tuesday 15 September 2015

What Are We Fighting For?



This video is about the Vietnam War but it might equally be about the War in Iraq and the closely related never ending military-industrial politics of Hydra, the multi-headed monster JFK warned us about; a need for endless conflicts, exemplified today by the tragic scenes unfolding in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan* and elsewhere.

Hungary (EU) today closed it's southern border  to tens of thousands refugees including those fleeing the ISL and the terror of the war in Syria, a war where illegal weapons, gas bombs, have been used against civilians.

Internal borders are from today 'temporarily' quasi-closed inside the EU. The Schengen, that is control- free travel between EU states, is in chaos. It is difficult for EU citizens to travel from Salzburg (Austria) to Munich (Germany) for example.

**What are we fighting for? is the crucial question. A question that Tony Blair and George W Bush have cleverly managed to dodge. One can only say that the reasons behind the Iraq War and the subsequent military conflicts and unrest in the region following Bush's 'Mission Accomplished'  have never been properly explained. 

   *Latest: Taliban free 400 men from Afghan prison.
**The alleged 9/11 masterminds, several Saudi gentlemen languishing in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, have yet to stand trial. Perhaps they never will. The contents of the controversial "28 pages" supposedly relating to the Saudi role (or otherwise) in the 9/11 attack on the USA cannot be released according to Pres. Obama. 

What are we fighting for?
Not for the next generation, that's for sure.


Monday 14 September 2015

Wet day in Venice haiku



  streets paved 
 with gold: reflections 
  in puddles

// //////////
/////// ////// /////////////
///////// //////// 



You may leave your monsters outside at the gate


A woman's role in the European Union  

Today you arrived
in huge numbers
- your Exodus now at the Salzach;


Waiting to cross 
and enter the new Promised Land 
- a land with a leader 
who is 
a just woman. 


You may leave your monsters 
outside 
at the gate.

Sanctuary  - a place of refuge or safety



You must wait 
in the rain
- with your reasons and hopes.


The border is closed

'Temporarily'

People are working 
- to provide you  with sanctuary.


The queue - Die Schlange

Be patient 
and wait for your turn.

That's all 
  
for today.





Sunday 13 September 2015

Blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced in Saudi Arabia to 10 years in prison, $250,000 fine, and 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam through electronic channels"

proceeds from this book
will be donated to Raif
Badawi's family who
now live in book friendly
Canada 
"Raif Badawi is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression." - Amnesty International

"Badawi writes for . . . all those interested in changing the Arab and Islamic world for the better." - Ayaan Hirsi Ali

"I wanted to break the walls of ignorance." - Raif Badawi

"These young people are the hope for the future, and we need to support them and oppose those who oppress them." - Lawrence Krauss

"The discussion that Badawi leads is crucial." - Constantin Schreiber

"Raif Badawi is an important voice for all of us to hear, mild, nuanced, but clear." - Salman Rushdie

1,000 Lashes is published in Canada by Greystone Books. An Ebook is also available.

Friday 11 September 2015

How sweet!



The following haiku was inspired by a recent post at R K Singh's poetry blog (see sidebar links).


candy shop counter 

 grandma and child  

 in secret talks



My Gaudy Clown




"`O=!!!=O´"

 bespectacled
my gaudy clown 
is yellowish
and orange-white 
with small blue spots 
and red to orange 
areas 
irregular 
in shaPe and siZ
his carapace smooth
is round and hemispherical 
his flattened claws 
are raised to danger 
in the most threatening way 
have longitudinal ridges 
seek him now  
peer closely in the sand 
there in the rubble 
of the fringing reefs
and have no fear 
for when you touch him 
                             he will retreat 
                                                                        - and run away
with a rapid sideways movement  . . . 



























Wednesday 9 September 2015

Beware the bearded fireworms


!!!!!!!!!!
beware 
the bearded 
fireworms 
that forage 
in the open sea
 or in the cracks 
between the rocks 
they are red 
or green 
or brown
 a pleated beard 
upon the head 
a caruncle 
for a crown 
they like to eat 
invertebrates 
 gorgonians 
and anemones 
they creep 
below 
the coral slabs 
 they hide 
amidst the rocky 
rubble 
they lurk
within the seagrass 
beds
 do not disturb 
the bearded worms
beware 
the burning 
of their bristles 
 beware their painful 
wound 


Tuesday 8 September 2015

Eve of Destruction by Barrie McGuire

-                          

Cartoon from Afghanistan


An Afghan artist demands that we ask why the leaders of the Gulf States are not providing shelter for refugees. He paints them burying the problem in the sand.  The picture also reminds us of the image (in b/w below) of the Syrian boy washed up on a Mediterranean beach, lest we should quickly forget. 




Aylan Kurdi
 (2012 - 2015)


Sunday 6 September 2015

The Angel of Mercy




There are some people who constantly strive to make the world a better place for mankind. Angela Merkel is one of them. 

Man's inhumanity to man knows no bounds. Persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, or victims of gas attacks and murder or of wanton destruction of their towns and villages, and with no future in their homeland, millions must flee. Many survive the long exodus; the perilous sea crossings, the border fences, the nights hiding in the forests, the unscrupulous people smugglers, and finally they find their way to the Austro-Hungarian border now open like the parting of the Red Sea; they pour across and are given food, shelter and medicine before making their way by special trains to Germany, which is their promised land. 

Truly the meek shall inherit the earth. 


Thursday 3 September 2015

Limericks



   In an Austrian textbook for students of English (pub. 1954) I discovered some new limericks; that is to say they were completely new to me, all except one that is.  The limerick beginning "There was a young fellow of Ealing . . . " is one that many of us will have cut our teeth on. 


Limericks are like pre-packed supermarket tomatoes; you must take the bad with the good. 


I hope some of these are to your taste:  


There was a young seedsman of Leeds
Who swallowed six packets of seeds.
In a month, silly ass, 
He was covered with grass
And he couldn't sit down for the weeds. 


There was a young fellow of Ealing,

Devoid of all delicate feeling.
When he read on the door,
"Please don't spit on the floor!"
He immediately spat on the ceiling. 


There was a young fellow of Perth,

Who was born on the day of his birth.
He was married - they say -
On his wife's wedding day
And he died - when he quitted the earth. 


There was a young man of Bengal,

Who went to a fancy-dress ball.
He went, just for fun,
Dressed up as a bun, 
And a dog ate him up in the hall. 


Said an incautious lady of Wales,

"A smell of escaped gas prevails."
So she searched with a light,
And later that night 
Was collected - in seventeen pails. 


and finally:


There was an old girl of Uganda,

Renowned for her coolness and candour.
When during abuse,
Her spouse yelled, "You goose!"
She immediately answered, "You gander!"



Wednesday 2 September 2015

reaching for the sponge



reaching for the sponge

my mexican 
four-eyed octopus 

stops to consider his life 
on the rock 

the rock he shares 
with a porcelain crab 

and a feather duster 
worm 

he squirms when he tells me
it could be worse 

a leather backed doris 
and a sidegill slug


feather duster worms

Tuesday 1 September 2015

The Spinoza Problem by Irvin D. Yalom


Irvin D. Yalom's beautifully crafted psycho-philosophical novel The Spinoza Problem is a book I feel I must recommend.

The 'plot' deals principally with the inner lives of the novel's two main characters; the 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza and the 20th century anti-semetic Nazi Alfred Rosenberg.

The author has an amazing website at www.yalom.com

The Spionoza Problem is a book for the thoughtful reader and at the same time an exciting page turner.






Out of the trees and into the park


"It's like the fall of the Berlin Wall" - Syrian refugee arriving in Austria from Hungary


   
   the running man 
   runs out of the trees 

the man at the gate 
of the park

holds it wide open 
he smiles

   he mustn't slow down
   he doesn't forget to yell thanks!

   then softly behind 
   the thud and a click . . .