Poetry – What is a tree? – a peon to anthropomorphism and consciousness.

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What is a tree?

This was part two of I like Rock; I like Trees.

People are so anthropomorphic that they measure all other living things by their similarity to us. Those that have more human attributes are obviously more important – higher species.

Plants bring up the rear.

We give all creatures a worth based on intelligence and anatomical similarity; the most important factor being the size of the brain. We rate our brains and intelligence very highly.

Except how would we know?

The fact that a plant cannot speak, yell or run away, doesn’t produce weapons, technology and space travel does not mean it is not sentient, conscious and even intelligent.

Our intelligence comes from the ‘electrical’ activity of the nerve-net in our cerebrum.

The evidence is that the whole of a plant communicates in a similar ‘electrical’ manner.

Maybe …. Just maybe ….. they are aware.


What is a tree?

 

For what is a tree?

Superfluous –

No intelligence at all!

Not worth a jot!

Unimportant

Get it up against the wall!

We’re gonna

Burnt it up

Screw it up

And laugh as it falls!

Opher 9.10.2015

Poetry – I like Rock; I like Trees – A poem of anguished sadness.

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Prose Cons and poetry cover

I like Rock, I like Trees

I have a number of passions. Foremost among them are my love of nature and my love of Rock music.

This combines the two.

It always seems to me that mankind is not only cavalier about dealing with nature, we are often deliberately savage. It is as if nature is an enemy that requires destroying and putting in its place. Nature, unrestrained, is untidy and dangerous. We can manicure it into a lawn, pull up the weeds, and have a beautiful flower bed and ornamental Beech tree.

The wild-life can be so messy and destructive, such a cause of damage and disease – best remove it. We can put out a bird feeder and keep a cat.

As our numbers soar the green forests are transformed to barren soil; the multitude of wild-life is reduced to a sorry few.

But we have our cars, supermarkets, gardens and parks. Nature is selected and tamed.

Well it’s Saturday night and I’ve just got paid ………….

I like Rock, I like Trees

We’ve got to rip it up,

Tear it up,

Get it on down.

 

Carve it up,

Root y toot,

Never a frown.

 

Who needs a forest

When we can have a town?

 

We’ve got to saw it up

Plane it up

Nail it all down.

 

Glue it up

Not give a hoot

As we rip it to the ground.

 

Who needs a planet

That’s green and not brown?

 

Opher 9.10.2015

Poetry – Purpose in the Moment – Purpose Enough. – A poem about the beauty of the moment.

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Purpose in the Moment – Purpose Enough.

In these days as I am getting older I find that not only do the days and weeks flash by but so do the months and years. The endless days of my childhood have been replaced by a mad rush to fit everything in.

Time to stand and stare.

For life is so short. It is something that young people do not realise. When I was young there was time to waste. Now time is precious and I am well aware that my seconds are numbered. I am not only trying to fit everything in but to savour it too.

For many people life lacks purpose without a future and a plan. They see life as pointless without an aim, creator or mystical reason. Not for me. I am content. There is much to create, much to put right and much to delight in. That’s purpose enough for a lifetime. All that is required is to take the time to breathe in the beauty and love we are surrounded with.

Life is sweet enough to last and a moment can be an eternity.

 

Purpose in the Moment – Purpose Enough.

 

There is purpose in a setting sun

Glistening on the orange ripples of the sea.

There is reason enough among the stars

Swirling through the clouds above you and me.

 

Life is a moment

Here and gone

Seeming forever

But never long.

Time enough to love

And laugh

But really

Far too short

By half.

Just begun

And it’s almost run –

Been and done.

 

It always seems the same

But every moment brings change,

Subtle and unseen,

As atoms rearrange,

Rejoining charm

With up and strange.

 

We should dive right in

And lap it up.

Sate ourselves

And fill the cup.

As seconds fly

And devils sup.

To live for now

And not for then.

For there is much to savour

Here ….. there

And …. When.

 

Opher 9.10.2015

Poetry – Where s this train going? A poem about the architects of society’s insane charge into the future.

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Anthropocene Apocalypse cover

Where is this train going?

I am obsessed with the notion that the whole of our history is careering along, faster and faster, towards inevitable oblivion. There is no one at the controls. There does not appear to be anyone controlling the direction we take. The billionaires and governments are obsessed with profit and progress without looking at the impact on the future.

If there are people controlling our progress I believe they are manipulating it for their own profit and power and not in the interests of most of us or the rest of life on this planet.

The world is being run for selfish profit and greed. The intelligence applied is perverse.

There is no intrinsic need for poverty, starvation of environmental destruction. It is a product of the way we choose to organise things. There is more than enough food and wealth to go round. While some squander millions others live on rubbish dumps.

Those guiding society are roaring down the track towards a crash.

 

Where is this train going?

 

Where is this train going?

Who is at the wheel?

Careering ever faster

Striving to close a deal?

Whatever is in the way

Gets flattened to the ground.

Trees, birds and animals

Disappear without a sound.

One mad dash towards a greedy end

A selfish hit and run;

They don’t care about anything

As they get the dirty job done.

 

Opher 9.10.2015

Poetry week – I’m all ears – a poem about feeding the world.

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I’m All Ears

This was a  bit of fun really. Behind it there is a serious message though. We are seven billion people. It is far too many. In order to feed, house and entertain that many we are steadily encroaching into the wilderness and destroying wildlife. We need to reduce our numbers drastically if we wish to preserve any wilderness. In the meantime we have to feed everyone. About a third of the world – two and a half billion – are starving. To feed them we need to make some strides in food production. If we were to make significant strides in producing significantly more food from the same area then I am all in favour. GM might be the answer.

I am a devout environmentalist but I am not a Luddite. I believe it is sensible to go slowly and test out new inventions properly. I think it is important to check the downsides and not play them down for profit. I believe that the corporations and governments have a long sad history of lying which leaves people distrustful. They will do anything for profit (see VW). But I do believe in Science and I am not automatically against innovation.

For me GM has the potential to be transformative. By putting in the right genes we can make plants resistant, increase yield and enable crops to grow in deserts. I am not foolish. I know that all of this has a downside. But if it enables mankind to feed its hungry mouths while preventing its inexorable steamrollering of nature I am all for it.

This is a poem about that!

I’m All Ears

I’m all ears

When it comes to feeding the skinny and lean.

I’m all ears

When it comes to changing the deserts to green.

I’m all ears

When you speak of the green revolution’s dawn

I’m all ears

But what else would you expect from GM corn?

 

Opher 8.10.2015

Poetry – Long Live Love! A poem about endorphins and life, religion, futility and LOVE!!!!

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Prose Cons and poetry cover

Long Live Love!

Well – being cynical, love is just a set of endorphins. Evolution has rewarded us with a euphoric brain chemistry for seeking out someone to pair our genes with. It is nature’s way of making us feel good. It is all in the name of procreating genes.

But then there are those that get rapturous and full of endorphins at the thought of God or Allah, to the point where they are perfectly willing to torture, kill and terrorise in his name.

As I am an antitheist who believes that religion is the cause of many of the world’s power struggles and creates too many floods of negative brain chemistry I will veer towards Love.

One life – no gods – no heavens – just a beautiful universe, endless wonder, creativity and love. It may only be brief, only chemistry, and ultimately without purpose, but I adore the endorphins! Long live love!

 

 

Long Live Love!

 

An endorphin rush flooding the brain,

With electrical excitement,

Transforming us to dopey eyes and tenderness.

Just nature’s way of rewarding us

For pairing up our genes,

To facilitate DNA’s togetherness.

Just chemistry

Endlessly.

 

That same mad chemistry

That runs through mobs

Through the religious fanatic,

A neuronal surge

Of euphoria

Making intolerance automatic.

 

Yet for us who have no god

Who peer with ecstasy at the majesty

Of all that circles within and above;

No matter how brief,

How futile,

How insignificant,

I’ll settle for love.

 

Opher 1.10.2015

Poetry – Creation – The beginning of the banishment of dark.

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Creation

I wrote this poem after watching a Horizon programme on the creation of the universe. I stole various wonderful phrases that seemed to capture the essence of the wonder.

For me the universe is a mystery and one that slowly we are unravelling. Science is the greatest provider of wonder to me. Perhaps we will never know all the secrets of the universe and life. The further we extend our knowledge the stranger it all becomes. I’m fine with that. The wonder and awe are in the perpetual discovery. It wouldn’t do to understand it all. Where’s the fun in that?


Creation

The first star was born;

The first light;

The story of us.

 

In the beginning,

A bright beginning,

The Big Bang

And dust.

 

New,

White hot

And searing light,

With hydrogen gust.

 

Then cooling,

A vast blackness,

A fog

Of hydrogen gas.

 

Welcome,

Welcome to the Dark Ages;

The long night

Of then –

But no us.

 

Then the first pinprick of light

And a dim cosmic dawn

As the first of zillions of stars was born.

The light of creation;

A fusion of elemental force

In the dark,

Forging metals

And hurling them back out

To leave their mark.

 

The supernova of nuclear storm

Creating planets

For a brand new morn.

All the gold silver and iron

Created in stars

Through fiery aeons.

 

Gravities pull

On that diffuse pool

With uneven spread

Fusing quarks

Into carbon and lead.

Giving forth sustaining light

With suns a hundred times bigger

Than our sun

With its heavy metal trigger.

As violet blue,

The elements they spew,

Cutting through the fog

With a cosmic knife.

Providing the building blocks

For life.

 

Now on this rock

Conceived in the maw of a star

We have eyes

That can peer near and far

And minds

To fathom the nature

Of a quark

And the wonder

Of that first

Bright spark

That lit up a tiny corner

Of perpetual dark.

 

Opher 20.9.15

A Global ‘National’ Anthem – Thanks to Kellie for the great idea!

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The Global ‘National’ Anthem

I wrote a piece on my blog about the National anthem and Kellie made a great comment about needing a Global ‘National’ Anthem. That really sent me thinking. She’d put her finger on it. It was just what we needed.

I had just been playing some Woody Guthrie and was reminded of his wonderful ‘This Land is Your Land’. What we needed was something that spoke of beauty, unity and tolerance, that took responsibility for the way we lived in this rich web of life and cared for each other as well as all life around us. I had a vision of a world of harmony, fairness and the helping hand. I have a vision of a world in which instead of war, abuse, inequality, pollution, nationalism, fundamentalism and greed, we all valued each other and the beauty of nature and worked together. It’s a dream. But it is also a vision worth working for.

Where would we be without our dreamers?

At our best humans are wonderful. We work for peace, cherish nature and are happy in our diversity full of love and altruism. At worst we are callous, selfish destroyers full of hate and cruelty.

An anthem shouldn’t be a pompous, grandiose, rousing song of war; it should be a happy, simple statement of love, tolerance and equality of a people who value this green planet and everything in it and recognise that all life is one interconnected force. When we damage it we are damaging ourselves. An anthem should be a celebration of us at our best.

This is what came out:


The Global ‘National’ Anthem

 

All join hands from sea to sea

And rejoice for the beauties that we see.

We’ve got one world

For you and me.

 

With a beaming smile and helping hand

We join our spirits across this land.

We’ve got one world

We can understand.

 

All together we can build it true

There’s lots of work for us to do

We’ve got one world

For me and you.

 

The rich green forests and the mountains tall,

Rolling seas and desert sands.

There’s room enough for all

To use our minds and hands.

There’s one world

One human band.

 

So value the earth and the fresh clear water

Care for the animals and care for the plants

That provide the life to our sons and daughters

They will endow everyone with all life grants

There’s one world

And abundance.

 

For we must use it well and use it wisely

The rich tapestry of life

All connected so precisely;

Not crucified with the gun and knife.

There’s one world

For man and wife.

 

All our brothers and sisters in strife

Living free in equality;

One people in the web of life

Living our lives so happily;

There’s one world

One family.

 

All join hands from sea to sea

And rejoice for the beauties that we see.

We’ve got one world

For you and me.

We’ve got one world

For you and me.

 

Opher 17.9.2015 (Thanks Kellie)

 

I know – it needs lots of work!!  But I loved the idea. See this as a first attempt!

Poetry – On One Hand I’m Digital – A poem for the computer age

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Vice and Verse cover

On One Hand I’m Digital

There’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence. There is concern that we will make computers that are much more intelligent than us, that can repair themselves, replicate themselves, and might end up thinking they are superior to us and do away with humans altogether.

I don’t know.

Sometimes I feel like my brain is nothing but a computer that could do with a good upgrade, more memory and a defragging of all that useless stuff it’s full of. It was a nice theme to play about with.

On One Hand I’m Digital

My life is measured in gigabytes;

An electronic haze on

The universal hard drive –

I know I’m heading for a crash.

I’m trying to back up

My essential core

But there’s never enough space

And the programmes all clash.

I have downloaded a few versions

Into clones with dual

Inputs and new combinations.

But it’s all a bit of a hash.

I’ve insufficient memory

To carry out my tasks.

My chip has become dated

But I’m still giving it a bash.

I’m so grateful to my motherboard

For the base on which I stand

Those pathways were so exciting

Though life became a mad dash.

Also the seminal floppy

That was plugged into the slot,

Streaming in its binaries

Making me so loud and brash.

I’m defragging all my programmes

In any effort to run faster,

Undertaking circuit training

with full hhttps followed by a slash.

But now my programmes have degraded

And I’m running kind of slow

Because the upgrades I’m downloading

Keep ending up in the trash.

My life is measured in gigabytes;

An electronic haze on

The universal hard drive –

I know I’m heading for a crash.

Opher 16.9.2015

Poetry – Choices of life – a poem about the arbitrary nature of the choices we make.

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Prose Cons and poetry cover

Choices of life

If I really wanted I could walk out of here right now and make my way to anywhere on this planet – or I could go to bed and sleep. I can go to work or choose to play. I can move to a house in Rio.

I can walk out of this life and choose another – if I really wanted.

Yet for the most part we settle into the routine and follow the same habits. Our religious beliefs are fashioned by where we are born as are our political views. Ours lives are dictated by wealth, geography and education. It flows over us and we are caught in the currents.

Yet I am haunted by the deaths of friends and relatives and the accidents we have been in. If my Dad had not accepted that first cigarette he would not have died at the age of fifty eight from lung cancer. If I had been a minute later or sooner; if I had stopped to tie a shoelace, I would not have had a speeding car career into me.

The result of our choices are beyond all understanding. If I had stopped to tie that lace I might have been killed instead of surviving.

There is no way of telling what the consequences could be.

We live a life of choices and it is arbitrary.
Choices of life

 

Life is a series of choices –

Some are made for us,

Some are habit

And some necessity,

But all are open to us if we want.

 

Life is all possibility

But we narrow it down

For one reason

Or another

Because we feel we have to.

 

Life is a habit

That is only broken

When the extraordinary

Happens

And we are thrown.

 

In the midst of life

Comes death.

Always strangely unexpected,

Always unexpected

And all the habits are blown away.

 

Life is a series of choices

That are all a mystery,

That we can never pierce,

Or work out

Which is for the best.

 

Life presents the impossible

Choices to decide

Without revealing

A single clue

For the outcome of the results.

 

Life is the enigma –

One more minute in bed

And all the

Million possibilities

Slot together differently.

 

But without much thought

We make the choices

In the darkness

Of blind chance

And that is the life we make.

 

Opher 14.9.2015