Three Poems

It’s been a tumultuous three or four days, and the political situation in the US is beyond belief and description, and beyond dangerous. Europe will be caught between the collaborating dictatorships of the US and Russia if it doesn’t unite and see off the Far Right. And the UK must join the EU again so that, together, the countries of this bloc, can defend themselves and Eastern Europe.

Three poems, the most recent first:

The Time Has Gone

The time has gone for diplomatic
Riddles and games. We can no
Longer sit back and try to be
Above the inept bullies who are
Already subverting democracy
With their disrespect and with
Their vile attacks on people better
Than them. They want to own
Everyone, want every valuable
Resource of the world, and won’t
Stop until they have absolute
Power. They will win if we
Don’t stand up to them.

R 01/03/2025 19:33

Try To Change The World

I suppose politics did matter,
In a peripheral background sense,
When we thought we were in our prime,
Although that really is now, even
When parts of bodies fail because of
The wear and tear from those carefree
Days when we felt our strongest.

In this present day, when our coming
Together is more considered, gentler,
Built on an understanding grown from
Living together for such a long time,
Politics become a major visceral thought,
Because we think about the legacy
Our children will have to live with,

And if we can’t try to change the world
Now, they won’t have a world to hold
On to when we’re gone, will have to live
Each day in fear and uncertainty, through
Battles more physical and ferocious than
Any we ever had to fight, and become the
Guerrillas we were never brave enough to be.

R 28/02/2025 17:53

Fens

Grey green fens. The flat land
Sodden with pooled rain. Ghosts
Of trees, winter bare, in dishevelled
Clusters. Houses built on peat
And silt. Erosion of land and
The culture of travel. This Heat
Age rips more out of the soil
Than the Ice Age ever did.
Constant insistent wind. Bare
Ribs of civilisation. Dour attendants
At community meetings. Ice-faced,
Not a single optimist amongst them.

R 27/02/2025 13:47