Poetry – The Death of Democracy

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The Death of Democracy

It whimpered.

                It’s tiny cry

                                A beacon of hope.

Strangled at birth

                By greed,

                                Power,

Arrogance,

                And disdain.

Buried

                Under a mound

                                Of lies.

Its ashes

                Spin

                                Spin

                                                Spin

In the machine

                Of power

                                Where the big dogs play.

All that’s left

                Is a game,

                                A hollow farce.

Spin,

                Lie,

                                Spin.

Play up! Play up!

                As the red meat

                                Of unlucky scapegoats

Is fed to the timid runts.

                Only the powerful

                                Count.

We are controlled

                Like mindless

                                Counters

                                                In a game

Of tiddly-winks.

Opher 18.1.2022

They play us for fools.

They think we will believe anything.

Our short attention spans are so limited.

Our forgetfulness makes us easy to manipulate.

We are being played.

They are good at it.

Only occasionally does their arrogance create a misstep.

The trouble is that they are right.

Too many of us are taken in by these smarmy conmen.

The game of power was never going to allow democracy to live.

Power lies in the hands of consummate liars.

Poetry – The Winter of Democracy

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The Winter of Democracy

Living in the winter

                Of democracy

As factions stifle voices.

Dead leaves

                Of hope

Blow among the garbage.

Fascism erupts

                From the

Rotting corpse.

Conspiracy replaces truth.

Certainty replaces quest.

Fundamentalism

                Emerges

                                As a black

And white scripture.

Those not with us

                Are always wrong.

Education

                Comes with a gun.

                                Intolerance

                                                With a fist.

Freedom is a prison

                Whose walls

                                Are closing in.

It’s the winter of democracy

                Lies and fake news

                                Spin

For the fools.

17.1.2022

Watching the news as the Tories desperately spin the story. Red meat is thrown to the gullible. Throats are cut. Scapegoats selected.

Careers are ruined.

Anything but the truth.

The lust for power rules.

Operation Save The Big Dog is in full swing – Lie, obfuscate, cover, lie some more.

All singing from the same script.

If you say it often enough……..

Over in the States Trump trots out the same lies, holds the same rallies, cons the same people.

He spills his lies, conspiracy and spin and the fools lap it up.

Democracy??

Who cares for democracy??

This is the business of money and power.

There are no rules.

There is not a shred of truth.

Boris Johnson – sacrificing scapegoats, distracting, slitting throats, causing controversy – anything to avoid responsibility.

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Scapegoats are identified.

Lives are being wrecked.

The navy called in.

Lies trotted out.

The BBC thrown out the window.

Denials.

More lies.

Destruction in his wake.

An appalling record.

Lies.

More lies.

A badly negotiated Brexit.

Lies.

World-beating deaths.

Lies.

Poetry – Drabness

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Drabness

They would stifle our lives,

Suffocate us

With their drabness,

Steal our joy,

Silence the notes

And create

Oppressive sadness.

Opher – 12.11.2019

I was minded to write this poem after watching the Ken Loach film Jimmy’s Hall. In that film the claustrophobic Catholic Church put a stop to dancing, teaching and music. They had the hall burnt down and Jimmy forcibly transported.

But it could have been any fundamentalist religion. It could have been the Taliban, ISIS or Boko Haram. They would have our women uneducated, locked up at home or behind veils, to ban music and to force everyone to pray.

Peng Shuai: Missing Chinese tennis player – What have they done with her??

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Time that we enforced global Human Rights!!!

Just being ‘re-educated’.

Leixões – Art, statues and the fortress!

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I’m always moved by the way that the past is always represented by violence, power and control – fortresses, castles, palaces and churches.

Human being haven’t changed much – violence, wealth and power dominate.

Poetry – Who are they?

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Who are they?

They’re carving up the world

For economic gain.

Creating war and havoc

Bribing those who reign.

Putting in their puppets

Who give them all the cash

Bolstering their power

With crops and burn and slash.

Opher 28.10.2018

There’s a game being played. They create countries out of lines on maps and put in leaders who will toe the line.

All that matters is money and power.

They are carving up the world.

Poetry – All that matters is the dosh

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All that matters is the dosh

Give me the moolah!

Give me the dollar!

Don’t give a toot –

Just give me the loot!

Give me the dosh Tosh!

I don’t care about no chimpanzee;

I just wanna go on a spending spree!

I don’t care about no bird or bee!

I just wanna lotta cash for free!

Give me the moolah!

Give me the dollar!

Don’t give a toot –

Just give me the loot!

Give me the dosh Tosh!

I don’t care about the climate or planet!

Just want a cool million and need to plan it!

I don’t care about ivory or why to ban it!

I don’t care – so you can can it!

Give me the moolah!

Give me the dollar!

Don’t give a toot –

Just give me the loot!

Give me the dosh Tosh!

I don’t care about nothing so give me the cash!

I just care about me – so keep off of my stash!

I’ll sell you palm oil to get my hands on my loot!

Orangutan or elephant – shoot  shoot shoot!!

Give me the moolah!

Give me the dollar!

Don’t give a toot –

Just give me the loot!

Give me the dosh Tosh!

For the tiger and lion I don’t give a feck!

Just make sure my name’s on the cheque!

I’ll dig your mines – dump shit in the seas,

Slaughter your whales and chop down your trees!

Give me the moolah!

Give me the dollar!

Don’t give a toot –

Just give me the loot!

Give me the dosh Tosh!

I’ll gaff your porpoise to get my hands on the lucre

Sell you skank and tell you it’s pukka.

I don’t care if all the ice melts and the whole world’s war!

All I want is more more more moore!!!

Give me the moolah!

Give me the dollar!

Don’t give a toot –

Just give me the loot!

Give me the dosh Tosh!

Opher – 14.10.2018

This poem came out of talking to some quite extreme right-wing Americans on the web. As far as they were concerned compassion, caring and equality were for wimps. All they cared about was their stash.

Taxation was theft. As for education and healthcare – it should only be there for the deserving. If you wanted it you paid for it. If you couldn’t afford it – tough!

There was no global warming, no environmental crisis, no species extinctions. It was all a lie put out by the left – the evil left. They bought off scientists to fiddle the results.

The evil left, and the Jews, were in a conspiracy to bring Communism to the world, Communism was tyranny. Communism killed billions. It has never worked anywhere. Seemingly socialism is communism.

Well I think that the mark of a healthy society is based on how well they care for their unfortunate or needy.

The mark of a sick society is when those in need are treated like scum and left to rot.

America, with its grotesque inequality and callousness, seems to be going through a pretty sick phase. Rampant capitalism has eroded its soul. I hope the pendulum is swinging towards a new age of compassion. I hope it grows out of its selfishness soon.

York Minster – Photos

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I love these old buildings – glimpses of a faded power. Once Christianity exerted its power over everyone. We were all brainwashed and brought under its spell. The Bishops held huge power, lived in opulence and controlled the country. Even Kings and Queens paid homage. Their power has gone. People are no longer brainwashed. But their fortresses linger on for us to marvel at.

The mighty always fall. That’s history.

Poetry – To Make Themselves Look Big

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To Make Themselves Look Big

They wear uniforms,

Put on crowns,

Sit on thrones,

Wear ceremonial gowns.

They wear bit hats

Put on a wig.

With many servants

To make themselves look big.

They live in mansions,

Rolex on wrists,

Play with yachts,

Hold sceptres in their fists.

Wearing gowns and ermine,

Finest wines to swig,

Dripping gold and diamonds

To make themselves look big.

Yet really

They are the same as us.

Passengers

On a planetary bus.

Opher – 29.1.2021

The kings, queens, presidents, judges, generals and wealthy, all decked up in their finery, in uniforms, with status symbols, $6000 handbags, flash cars, Armani suits, rolex’s and Italian shoes, are all playing a game.

Everything is a symbol.

Tribalism is rife.

The game is played with deadly results.

We are put in our place.