Always doubling up

Monday is too busy to get everything done, even if, like last night, I couldn’t sleep, and attempted to write my first poem in Greek (not yet finished). So here are the two latest poems, in English.

The Writers’ Pledge

From the first time you pick up
A piece of paper and a pen, and start
To write into that blank space,
You make a pledge, to yourself
And the world, that you will always
Speak the truth, always put reality
Into perspective and context for
Anyone who reads your words,
That you will forever be true to
Yourself, show life at its ugliest,
Try to send messages to the powerful
That they are not the absolute rulers
They believe themselves to be, that
Your truth is not just for you,
But for the rest of humanity, too.
This is your promise, this writer’s vow.

R 24/02/2025 23:40

The Present

What has been forgotten by the present.
The Renaissance was one of the most
Bloody periods of history, warlords
Fighting for power over city states,
Rights to suppress the people, artists
Who would give them beautiful
Propaganda.

What the present has forgotten.
Recent history, wars a blink of a memory
In the past, the attempt to murder an
Entire race and almost succeed, gas
Chambers, fearful betrayal of neighbour
By neighbour, sibling by sibling, lover
By lover.

What the present forgets.
To challenge the lies of the now, to stand
Against the rising wave of discrimination,
False incrimination, while leaving the real
Criminals and criminality unpunished
And unjudged, leaving those lies to be
Taken as fact.

R 25/02/2025 14:13