4000 weeks

asleep we are equal
toss and turn
before another sequel
one of only
four thousand weekfulls
some may work exposed to weather
whether lucky others’
weeks are peaceful
the labouring class
the majority of us
we all must
sudo apt-get out of bed,
by dint of caffeine
best be wakeful
de-enforcements comin’ in
to the office
try and stop us
half a day every fortnight or so
certainly satisfies my appetite

i just did my day in the office for the month. i do like that the office is proximate to many shops. and there is a gym next door so that’s quite useful. but then at the office i alternate between working hard at my desk and taking calls in a little phone booth thing. no advantage whatever over being at home. i guess it would be different if i worked as a road surfacer though.

the work of winter comes

unable to execute
a victim of to do lists
on a run
i stop to pee
and see a baby deer
a radical idea
why count debt
and gdp
why not just
make the world
a nice place to be?
maybe happy people
will be more productive
and maybe tidying up
will be stimulating
all by itself
in sickness and in health
turn it up this is techno

this is the trilogy of four to the floor
the future before us
has been foretold
hand pumps gave us feudalism
we got capital from coal
techno determines
the rate of profit will fall

thank you for joining me for another month of the love epochal. and what a month it was. my dad turned 80 and went on holiday. i bought a wardrobe. we all enjoyed some poetry. join me back here again next month for… more of the same. except completely different. but basically the same.

more unicorns

scotland is an idea
so are equality, pride,
race and health
which ideas are important to you?
love, fairness, justice…
or sticking it to your neighbour?
and now the poem’s
getting me down
dragging up more
sore memories
within me soar
i email my old therapist
hoping for absolution

i think if humanity is going to succeed and live for another thousand years, we need to abolish the nation state. we must remember that a country is just an idea that we have stuck to a temporary land mass. and our land mass may well collide with north america in 250 million years. at which point it is likely nobody will remember anything about scotland. or north america.

vaccine state of mind

on the radio they say
it’s demonstrable,
linking autism
and paracetamol
this is what victory feels like
empty
the struggle is eternal
watch american adverts,
feel lobotomised
side effects include diarrhoea
dandruff and instant death

note that i’m not saying for a second that the very stable genius is a child abuser. he seems to have known lots of them though. and he has been known to enjoy being surrounded by young girls – at his child beauty pageants for example, disturbing as a concept without the need to dwell on any details.

sarkozy x pryce x huhne

sarkozy will sleep in jail
with his head held high-
proud of his shamelessness
comforted by his lies
it’s peculiar how many
politicians have convictions
that relate directly
to their economic interests
some presumably entered politics
to pursue pure crookery
others i suppose become
corrupted by opportunity
and the third category are dragged
into crooked torrents
by the scum that forms around them
i wonder where chris huhne
falls on this scale

i found it quite silly that sarkozy said he would have his head held high in jail. i instantly thought, he is quite a short man isn’t he? the french elect short presidents. not since jacques chirac have they had a leader of physical length. and then, thinking of corruption, trump was too obvious a comparison so i turned to the chris huhne / vicky pryce caper earlier this century, for the sole reason that it was amusing.

segreillious

charlie kirk caught one
in the neck
i may not support the second
amendment
but that was brave
to make a stand
for his beliefs
despicable, racist,
misogynistic
as they were
he will be pleased to find
the afterlife is segregated
and he will be
with his friends

i don’t want this to be read as gloating or anything. this poem is essentially a diary, and it is a year since kirk’s murder now. i don’t even think this poem is ironic. it was a reaction to his death, which itself was ironic. i simply state that his beliefs were despicable. i didn’t celebrate his death.

a rare moment of candour

ministry of war
at least it’s honest
in a prevailing atmosphere of
bad faith positions
like when you say,
i want to ban immigrants
i’m a country that otherwise
would have a declining population
it is impossible to construct
an argument that this is
fundamentally anything
but a contrived way of saying
white faces only, please!

i’m keeping my posts short this month – i had the busiest month. i moved in with my girlfriend on the first of the month and life has been a bit mad since.

this bit was about pete hegseth changing the department of the defense’s name to the department of war. how’s that going for you, pete?

changed mores

people in the past believed
all sorts of mad stuff
gods and idols
and witches and curses
and in a natural
rank of persons
elite gold souls
and humble serfs
and the people
of the future will
think us ghastly
and selfish
to be clear
i think they will hate us

we should need a supermajority to ban anything. a simple majority is not enough. we need to have a presumption in favour of allowing. don’t let one person veto a construction project or the 51% most boring citizens ban weed for the rest. no tyranny of the busybodies. that is all.

wales ii

we pick brambles by nebo
up the lane from nazareth
hold a toddler up a boulder
you know slow is not
intrinsically good or bad
park the motor
don’t feed the metre
get a parking fine
waitrose cafe
avocado experiment
waitress seems
amazed it didn’t kill me
free tuna baguette
because they made one extra
if only they had a supermarket
in which to merchandise it

i just realised that if we just increase taxes on everyone that increases the share of money going to the government which decreases the amount of money available for other things. so increasing taxes is a better way of dealing with inflation than raising interest rates. it’s much fairer. and instead of people defaulting on their mortgages, the government will have money to spend on cycle lanes and mental health care and other great stuff!

events, dear boy, events

a thought i have a lot
is that the present is just
the way it is because of things
that already happened
and how different the world could be
if different things had happened
i wouldn’t be alive
if it wasn’t for the second world war
how should i feel about hitler?
how should i feel as a child of genocide?
on a planet still full of fascists
and sympathisers

is it better to live among fascists or not live at all? it is certainly a depressing way to live. how can a person choose to be evil? why are we hard wired for cruelty? it’s a moot point i guess. for now the main struggle is just getting them out of power.