Out of Order (revised)

Today is Tuesday. I have to be very careful with everything I do, because yesterday was Wednesday and if I can't join today neatly with yesterday there will be gaps for chaos to slip through.

Yesterday was tomorrow (Wednesday) but the day before was Monday. I was straddling the gap all day yesterday, trying to guess what would happen in between, wishing I'd paid attention on Monday to what was going on and where it might lead. Tomorrow maybe we'll be back in order.

Tomorrow had better be Thursday because whatever chaos gets through tonight I'll be spending all day straightening it out. I can't be thinking about, if it's Friday when does Thursday come in, or if it's a week on Saturday whether I should note down the football scores and place a bet ready for whenever this Saturday decides to show up.

Upto this Monday I'd only ever had the slightest sense of déjà vu, zoning out with the ironing, thoughts wandering, time fluid, but never this. Maybe tomorrow will be Christmas and I'll know what to buy the kids, instead of just hoping for the best. Maybe it'll all work itself out, the only chaos will be the usual, non-time/space continuum chaos. Otherwise by Christmas there'll be so much built up I might as well declare the apocalypse.

Yesterday Dad asked me how today Tuesday had been, which hadn't happened yet. What could I say?

Maybe I should go and see him, but if yesterday, which was tomorrow, he hadn’t seen me the day before (that is today), will that create two of him ? one that saw me on Tuesday and one that didn’t, or will that cancel him out, cancelling me out, unravelling history back to the point of his first influence?  Chaos everywhere.

I had an email today reminding me to pay the gas bill, so do I pay it today ? I didn't pay it yesterday (which is tomorrow) so is it ok to pay today which is yesterday's yesterday. I think I'll leave it.

And there was a cake in the tin yesterday that's not there now, it looked home made and untouched - did I make it ? did someone bring it round ? did I buy it from a door to door cake salesman ?

It’s Schrodinger’s cake  - it’s only there today if tomorrow you opened the tin.

If it’s not there by the end of the today then it won’t be there tomorrow which was yesterday, when I saw it.  So . . .

If I don’t get this right there could be a black hole at the bottom of the cake tin, and I’d hate to cause the end of time and space over a misplaced Victoria sandwich.

Breathing Underwater - A Collection of Poems and Short Stories

Breathing Underwater - my collection of nineteen poems and four short stories has been published by TSL Publications.

Contact me for copies :
- £4.95 local or collect,
- £6.25 posted to mainland UK (£11.20 for two copies posted together),
- £8.75 to EU, (£13.70 for two copies posted together).

Please note that postage rates may change, and the postage rate at the time of ordering will be used.

Surrendered Judgement

 Surrendered Judgement

It's too late to care after all these years

washing your hands with crocodile tears

what was he to you, this King of the Jews ?

an obvious pardon, but aggravation for you

release Barabbas roared the crowd

and history scored your cowardice loud

an act of indecision we still remember 

a template for judgment to surrender:

clean air targets for all to meet

car-makers publicise all complete

but leave us breathless in the streets

exhausted by emission cheats

that coffee brand is grabbing water

with expired license, expensive lawyers

the common man must take a stand

as authorities look away, or sit, on their hands

-x-

children meet your idols, secret games in the night

protection for our famous names, hiding in plain sight

dirty hands giving treats

wipe them clean on hospital sheets

favoured access, to young and new

the rich and famous, alone with you

stealing your youth with glamour and silence

our establishment condones the betrayal and violence

-x-

carbon clouding up the air, cooking up creation

vote denial and leave it for, the next generation

and imprecise science is just an excuse

to carry on, with the abuse

dictators welcomed with open arms

diplomats impress that all are charmed

no-one mentions human rights

investment priority over innocents' plight

you are not the last and not the first

to find decision-making is cursed

a coward in the face of revolution

for a quiet life - an easy solution

how are your dreams, your conscience calling ?

you saw the truth, and your star falling

you could have made the honest decision

not washed your hands, for your selfish vision

our hands maybe clean to the naked eye

but we will answer for this when we die.

Surrendered Judgement was also written for the Easter Joy & Justice exhibition. The image of Pilate washing his hands is ideal to reference many issues of complacency, complicity, abdication of responsibility and cover-ups since his time.

 

nursery rhyme for modern times

nursery rhyme for modern times

Not the first and not the last

Pompous Pilot said, “I'll pass,”

he had the might but not the will

and let them take the Son to kill

washed his hands of one decision

just another politician

In the future just the same

wash your hands and pass the blame;

Minors mining, for cheap blood diamonds

pre-teens sewing jeans, poor and frightened

Appalli Nepali, hidden in the sands

world cup glory, for famous brands

Rowdy Saudis, buy another round
their enemy the Yemeni, don't hear a sound 

Backing fracking, rupturing the land
unborn, too young, to take a stand

Smugglers charging the premium rate
while presidents . . . just negotiate

We don't like the look of you visa-vis
turn a blind eye so we don't see

Life jackets floating by in the sea
You Don't Care So Neither Do We . . .
 

Nursery Rhyme for Modern Times was written for an exhibition (Easter Joy & Justice) looking at the Easter Story and issues of social justice. The assigned scene was Pilate washing his hands of Jesus’ fate, (even though he had all the authority, and the might of the Roman Empire behind him) and how that might relate to modern issues of justice. These are the notes provided for the exhibition:

Context - this is written as a nursery rhyme and could be sung as a skipping, hopping or clapping game, many traditional nursery rhymes may have originally had grim meanings, and this kids’ rhyme refers to many terrible situations in the modern world.

- over time the context may be lost and lines could lose their specific meaning

- over time words or lines may change or be forgotten, and no doubt in the future kids will have new issues to deal with, and this will be part of the past.

Verse 4 

- Nepali men have been recruited to build world cup stadia in Qatar where they live in appalling conditions, their passports held by employers, payments delayed, and many have died. The sponsors, FIFA, the Qataris, the contractors, have each passed on the responsibility. Meanwhile the fans don't know or don’t care as long as there's football, and the brands deflect the bad publicity. 

- Drones causing civilian casualties as Saudi Arabia bombs the Yemen. The Saudis can’t take their western allies out for a drink, but can still get unruly, deploying their latest purchases.