Visions From The Pits of Love and Despair – my latest poetry book – available soon!

Visions From The Pits

Of

Love and Despair

By

Opher Goodwin

Introduction

This is my 23rd book of poetry. As usual it is a commentary on the world I see around me, the beauty of nature, the wonder of the universe and the greed and stupidity of mankind.

In a world beset by the avarice of a crazed elite, the power-lust of politicians and the belligerence of religious and political fanatics, it is increasingly hard to find harmony, peace and love; but it’s there.

This book has been written in the wake of Brexit and Trump, while the Covid pandemic is raging around the world and we are governed by a bunch of extreme nationalist imbeciles led by an over-privileged clown.

Sometimes I despair and completely lose my faith in humanity.

We live on a beautiful world, full of wonder and mystery, and we tear it to pieces, destroy and ravage and put a price on everything.

The greatest art is nature.

People can be kind and compassionate when not being blown to pieces with ordinance or mislead by power-mad fanatics.

People are the problem. There are too many of us and we are steered by blind ignorance, fanatical obsessions and a lust for wealth and power.

Sometimes I think there’s no hope.

We have untold wealth in nature and the wonders of an infinite universe. Yet we create religions to shackle us and follow psychopaths, sociopaths and greed-ridden madmen.

It is no wonder the world is full of war, mass migrations, torture, poverty and religious extremism and is now on the brink of environmental catastrophe with global warming, climate change and the decimation of biodiversity.

My response is to take photographs, listen to music, love, and write my novels and these little polemics. I suppose they are my safety valves.

Beware, you are holding the nuggets that keep me sane, handle them with care.

Opher 12.9.2021

Today’s Music To Keep me SsSSsaaAAAaNNNnnEEEEE in Isolation – Mothers Of Invention – Absolutely Free

I just had to hear Plastic People and Call any vegetable.

I hear the sound of marching feet – a vast quantity of plastic people

Watch the Nazis run your town!

Loudhailer Electric Company – Gig in York 1st October

Be there or be square!! Dig the vibe!!

Poetry – The World That Could Be

The World That Could Be

There’s the world that could be

The world that will be

And the world that is.

All that stands between them

Is us.

Opher 3.4.2019

Some people see life as something that happens to them that they are not in control of. Some people believe that the world is so big that we can have no effect on it.

I think this is plainly nonsense.

We can see quite clearly that humans have already had an enormous impact on the planet. Now the 8 Billion of us are sufficient in number and great enough in our technological impact to devastate the world.

I do not share the view that we are impotent. We are in control of both our lives and our impact on the planet.

We should respect and cherish both.

Swans along the Liverpool Leeds canal.

A flotilla of swans cruised up to us in search of a meal – a pair with two cygnets in tow.

The Leeds Liverpool canal on a sunny day!!

Yorkshire is green and beautiful. When the sun is shining there is nowhere better. The canal wends its way through some amazing scenery. I couldn’t stop taking shots.

The last shot is of where we stayed.

Poetry – It’s Insane

It’s Insane

It’s insane

Does a plant feel pain?

How would we know?

Does a plant run away?

Does it scream?

Does it laugh and play?

Is it human?

Is it sentient?

Does it think?

Do it’s emotions foment?

From its roots to its shoots

Does a plant have feelings?

When its skin ends up

Among the peelings?

Do its senses flip-flop

When its body’s for the chop?

Does it know what’s coming

When it hears the chainsaw humming?

Does a plant possess intelligence?

Does it have common sense?

Or is a plant as dead as wood?

Merely growing as it should?

It’s insane

Does a plant feel pain?

But how would we know

If it doesn’t show?

Opher – 3.2.2019

Because they cannot move or speak we assume they cannot feel.

Because they have no brain we assume they can’t feel pain.

But the latest research indicates they feel a lot more than we think.

I’ll never look at a salad in the same way again.

The Corona Diaries – Day 535

Another warm day in Yorkshire. I’ve been feeling tired, sluggish and out of sorts today. As much as I could do to walk up my hill!!

Then I received an unexpected gift that bucked me up no end!! Thank you Stewart!!

I have three more book projects in mind. I have completed the editing of the second Harper book – really a memoir – and am not turning my attention to a last read through. There are a few things concerning chronology and photos to be sorted. Shouldn’t be too hard to sort!!

Meanwhile out in Coronaland there is a glimmer of hope. The Clown’s tax on the poor to pay for the NHS and Social Care has sent the polls into a spin. The lies have been exposed.

A ready prepared plan to deal with social care. No. There never was one.

Fix it once and for all. No. This comes nowhere near.

We won’t raise taxes. No. Once elected we will.

Brexit will make us into a new Global Britain. No. Project Fear is now real. We have major shortages. No drivers, No pickers. A smashed economy, rising prices, diminished influence, companies going bust. It’s a nightmare and it’s far from a temporary blip!!

There will be a £350 million a week Brexit bonanza for the NHS. No. Brexit is costing us tens of billions. There is no bonanza. That’s why he’s robbing the poor!

We will level up. No. The ones most hit by the tax rises, benefit cuts, job losses and rising prices are the gullible fools who voted for Brexit and the Tories. Don’t they ever learn?

The Tories are a bunch of overprivileged wealthy profiteers who were formed to represent the interests of wealthy profiteers. That’s what they do. That’s why they have been doling out huge amounts of our money to wealthy cronies while imposing pay cuts and benefit cuts on poor people. The billionaires and millionaires have made a killing out of Brexit and Covid. Austerity is a con. If tax loopholes were stopped and the wealthy had to pay their tax we’d have many tens of billions more. The problem was never the EU; it was tax avoidance!!

The Tories are laughing themselves silly over all these poor fools voting for them. They think we’ve all got the brains of slugs.

Are the cracks beginning to show? Are people waking up to the lies, sleaze and incompetence of the clown? I bloody hope so?

Is Starmer stepping up to the plate and punching the hell out of this bunch of greedy extremists? I bloody hope so!!

So, there were 36,734 new cases with 156 new deaths. We’re maintaining our position of being among the very worst!!

The universities go back soon. They are bracing themselves for a huge surge in cases!!

Boris Johnson is going to reveal a new Covid Winter plan. I don’t know what I’m most in fear of – Covid or Johnson’s plan?? A little while ago we were told that all the unlocking was irreversible. Now he’s reversing it all – but it’s not a reversal because he’ll call it different names. Instead of lockdowns it’ll be firebreaks. I wonder what other slogans and over-optimistic cheerleading we’ll have?? Will it be operation sunshot? Or world-beating oven-ready wand waving?? He thinks that just by announcing something and wishing it that it’ll happen! Someone should tell him – these things need thinking through, working out, planning and hard work. They do not just magically happen. Despite the huge sums – the billions he has given away to his chums, we still ended up with a tragic app, a useless T&T, PPE that didn’t work and a transport sector that is collapsing.

Organising Brexit and a Covid response???? We’re fucked!!!

Stay safe! It’s a circus. The clowns are in charge!! The ticket prices are high!!

Who’s in charge??

[][][]
All the organs of the body were having a meeting,
trying to decide who was the one in charge.

[]‘I should be in charge,’ said the brain,
‘Because I run all the body’s systems, so without me nothing would happen.’

[]
‘I should be in charge,’ said the blood ,
‘because I circulate oxygen all over so without me you’d all waste away .’

‘I should be in charge,’ said the stomach ,
‘because I process food and give all of you energy.’

[]‘I should be in charge,’ said the legs,
‘because I carry the body wherever it needs to go.’

[]‘I should be in charge,’ said the eyes,
‘Because I allow the body to see where it goes.’

[]‘I should be in charge,’ said the rectum,
‘Because I’m responsible for waste removal.’

All the other body parts laughed at the rectum
and insulted him, so in a huff, he shut down tight.
Within a few days,
the brain had a terrible headache,
the stomach was bloated,
the legs got wobbly,
the eyes got watery,
and the blood was toxic.
They all decided that the rectum should be the boss.
The Moral of the story?
The ass hole is usually the one in charge!

He made plans but he always rectum.

Thanks John!

Trump’s been robbing everyone!!