POETRY


Laundry

Oh yes, that perennial hustle for all travelers.
True monks, preach & practice detachment
And so consequentially, have two sets of simple clothes,
One to be washed every morning, during pre-breakfast personal & general chores.
Even having off-loaded most of my possessions, I never actually sustained that routine.
So here I am now, sat in the local bedsit launderette,
Watching my double load, of dirty linen rockin’n’rolling
And reflect, about how I am perhaps, slowly swinging back into an old routine.
But to be detached from possessions, means dependency on others,
So as a virtual stranger, returning home penniless & homeless
After five years abroad, means that adjustment may take some time.
Opportunities have to be sought & taken, in preparation
And so I am back, in a launderette, after a five year pause,
With a large bundle accrued, from twelve intense days straight labour.

POETRY


Sister River

Round the river again, after so many years,
How peaceful & serene, but hasn’t it changed.
Or has it, on the bank yes, now blocks of flatsOf unspectacular design, trying to upstage the perennial Bittern Manor,’
Situated just before the bend & Northam Bridge.
A Gothic ambience, adorned in verdant green woodland,
On Clausentum, the original ancient Roman settlement,
That pre-dates Saxon Hamwich town, downstream
At the river’s mouth near Canute, the landing place of the foreign uniting King.
Later reclamation strategic dockland, both commercial & residential,
Blitzed so totally &devastatingly one dark moonless night.
The river Itchen, my companion for so many years,
Ever present & ready refuge, from domestic chaos & madness.
Flowing quiescent, a mesmerizing movement that soothes the mind,
Nourishing the soul, enabling harmony in balance, resolving opposing conflicts.
The only interruptions, the flowing pageantry of tidal river blues,
White majestic swans, being caroled by ever watchful assertive alpha male.
Noisy darting ducks, establishing hierarchal food foraging.
Lazy late summer evening air, echoing to the bellowing coxman calls,
As his boat spasmodically glides, through the flowing water.
Synchronized effort, propelling the light slim craft,
Jerk like, in every quickening rhythm & pace.
First faintly & then more distinctly, the indistinguishable
Sound of the seagull outboard engine from afar,
Signaling another old sea dog’s approach, pedestrian like upriver.
This has not indeed changed, as the tidal rhythm dictates all
Still dots on the river survive, clusters of boat huddle
Between new emerging developments, that have sprouted along the banks
Descending upon ancient boat-mooring, leaving little trace.

POETRY – POLITICAL


Power Fuels

Twenty first century Iraqy conflagrations, is it the final cleansing of the twentieth century total conflict
At the dissolution of the old European colonial order that precipitated new mechanized total war
The initial hidden agenda was the control of the infinite source of energy & power
That would guarantee world hegemony for the foreseeable future
From this first initial world conflict, the control of Iraq’s new found unlimited oil resource was set
And the ‘Balfour Agreement’s Agreement’ suggesting & possibly assuring the forming of a Jerusalem center Zionist state
Was an unholy alliance, guaranteeing Britain’s European dominance by this assurance
In return for America’s logistical & personal support, assuring her eventual world dominance
So now in this fresh post World War, twenty first century New Age Aquarian group energy era
With all past colonial divisions slowly coming to the fore & healing
France & Germany, Yugoslavia & the Balkans, Ireland & now Cyprus
We have America’s imminent attack of Iraq, to endeavour to secure this enormous oil supply
And as I sit in a Bahrain hotel room in transit, awaiting my flight back to Cyprus from wintering in India
A matter of days before a possible, nay even probable American led invasion
Which even if it is for the right reasons & disarmament of real global threatening weapons
It is being led by the wrong face of democracy, a blatantly rigged electoral President
Defacing the pinnacle & cream of man’s struggle for freedom & equality
The American Constitution, an Administration so greedy, crooked & stupid
That I fear that they are entering an arena in classically ill-prepared arrogance
For even great Imperial powers disastrously slide or fall into inevitably oblivion due to ill prepared folly
While others resiliently bounce back ever stronger, but also ever wiser
This is the hallmark of a great Imperial power; he eyes & demeanor of George Bush’s troubles me
I fear that in fact they will in the long run only manage to unite not only the divided Muslim masses & militants
But also all of the deprived & disaffected peoples of the world against them
A scenario & nightmare that even the great & all powerful Roman Imperial Emperors feared & avoided
Taking great lengths to avoid this possibility, fearing, watching & placating the ever present Roman mob
Control is now probably a science & an art, witnessed, processed & perpetrated over thousands of years
Written about & studied, systems conceived, adopted, manipulated, changed & then dropped
But our new cowboy king, perhaps the new emperor without any clothes, chooses to ignore all of this history & knowledge
Partially due to a combination of ignorance & bad advice, but also an element of greed & corruption must be involved
Our only hope I believe, is the fresh breeze of European Union political influence
That has induced so much positivism in uniting modern post-war Europe
France & Germany & thus Great Britain, peace to Ireland & now Cyprus
That Germany & especially France have with Russia & China vetoed & blocked easy war passage
Is a very promising & heart warming, fulfilling the role that the United Nation was conceived & formed for
I only hope that Tony Blair is at least as clever as he looks& probably thinks he is
And uses his political position as a divided Labour Party leader, in bed with a war painted Republican American President
For while having used his position as a close, if not the closest, political & military ally
To impart the wisdom of colonial British governance, hatched on European classical history
He could then pull out just prior to kick off in the face of political suicide
To go down in history as the man who with one decision avoided World conflict
And be a real hero, in the face of tremendous power, betraying the mightiest power on Earth.

POETRY – PHILOSOPHY


Not Even for a Moment

Never alone, not even for a moment, difficult to believe,
In those moments of gloom & despair, when even the very fabric of nature,
Seems to conspire against one, where no easy escape can be found.
But what is higher consciousness, an achieved different perspective,
The test being, the ability to reconsider one’s stance & outlook.
The ideas, reconsiderations, impetus for change & resolution,
Come from where ?

POETRY - PHILOSOPHY


Greed, the Chicken or the Egg.

Is the driving impetus desire, of a capitalistic consumer orientated society,
Greed, a perniciously degrading bestial tool of control,
Conceived to fulfill the breach, in fatalistic slave consciousness.
Where the new sense of freedom to work, earn, spend and enjoy,
Veiled the intangible but ensnaring shackles of material desires.
Or is it that this level of consciousness, is where the majority of humanity focuses,
And when this focus rises, so will the morality of the mode
Of engine, driving our sociological train ever forward, outward & upward.

POETRY - PHILOSOPICAL


White Coat

The white coat, a symbol or excuse for detached analytical study,
In the name of pure science, in true jocular Mengele style.
Strange that in this instance, white really signals grey,
A non-descript, colourless, non-committal, cerebral non-emotive,
In control, omniscient, atheistic blunderer, without ancestral respect
For the ancient knowledge, of our forebears & the path of wisdom.
Focused specialized study & research, without a Platonic overview,
Is to have Pandora’s box, unlocked by a curious & empowered child
Of consciousness, intellect & responsibility, whose attitude of callousness,
Is engendered by double think duplicitous illusion, beyond karmic responsibility.

POETRY - PHILOSOPHICAL


Gemini Twins

Gemini, twin stars, inclination & nature,
Possibly infuriating to some, a misunderstanding will o’ the wisp.
Flighty, impulsive, a jovial creature of the wind,
Born of the air, a loquational Hermes in action.
A mercurial disposition, sparkling intellect & repartee,
Irrepressible athlete, energetic with flair.
Tai chi astrology, twin star expression,
Symbolic realism, a flowing yin yang interaction.
An alternating exchange, equalizing opposing conflicts,
On this terrestrial blinkered journey, of experience.