Wednesday 16 November 2016

Hate Crime




The opposite of brave = hate crime

It’s the land of the free
If you look like me,
If you talk like me,
If you think like me.
It’s the land of the free
If you ride like me,
All the way to the bank, guys.


And it’s just as well
I believe in hell,
That’s where I’m going,
All this hate I’m sowing.
It’s just as well
I believe in hell,
Down, down to the bank, guys.


And don’t you wish your country was free like mine?
Well, don’t cha? Don’t cha?
Terrifying kids and feeling fine?
All the way to the bank, yeah.



RF 2016



Sunday 13 November 2016

Untitled




Pivot

Cry today for our choices that are so poor.
Kill or be killed,
Starve yourself, or others.
What choice is that?

Cry today for our view that is crooked.
Hate because you’re told to,
Because you want to,
Because it feels good.

Cry because your god is bitter.
Love thy inconvenient neighbour,
Not just your family,
Or love is mean.

And cry today because you can,
Because you still care,
And remember what good can be;
It is a choice.



RF 2016


Photo taken from Caterthuns, Angus, yesterday.

Friday 11 November 2016

Entry number 2



So in the last post I offered my first entry for the Great Trump Inauguration Poetry Competition. Maybe it was a little angry. Maybe it could be misread (largely I was using his voice, or one of his voice's anyway...). Still, I'm going to try and come up with a few alternatives because I really want to win this competition! And like Trump I will say just about anything to secure my win. If I was a hashtag person I suppose I might try and start #Great Trump Inauguration Poetry Competition... maybe someone else will do that. There will be a positive, life-affirming, all come together entry yet to come (I am sure!) but it might take a few weeks. People keep crying on the news, beloved artists keep dying... it's all very inconsiderate.

At least in part my second entry was influenced by this article. And possibly the fact that I keep seeing mention of some shop's TV Xmas ad. (because that's news, obviously...).




The Great Inauguration Poem Competition – take two.


We expect a lot of politicians,
Too much perhaps.
They are only human after all,
If we’re lucky.

We want them to fix everything,
Be plumber, joiner, carer, nurse.
We give them the keys to our castles,
And our cells.

We write them letters,
‘Dear Santa, please outlaw abortion’.
We have our own focus,
And they have theirs.




RF 2016



Photo from 2013, Pennan, Aberdeenshire.

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Hot off the...




In which the party machine writes the greatest inauguration poem of all time
(rough draft for January 2017)

Good morning Vietnam, I mean America.
How y’all doin’? Are you having a good time?
Have you been on all the rides yet?
My personal favourite is the one that makes
Your hair stick right out, so you look like a mad man,
A person no-one would ever trust to run a country.
Am I right?
Am I freaking right?

I mean it worked for Ronald McReagan.
Who’d vote for an actor, they said,
Who’d want a cowboy turning D.C. into Dodge?
And he did OK, didn’t he? A-OK.
The president’s brain is missing, my ass.
Whoever said the president needs a brain in the first place?
He needs a solid team of speechwriters,
A wife, a total disregard for the environment,
A few good suits and a baseball cap.
Can I get a ‘hell yeah!’?
The world needs ‘hell, yeah’s.

So let’s get this celebratory poem thing rolling along…
Superbowl, Super Tuesday, Supersize shrink…
Greatest country in the world!
Greatest country in the world!
Jeez, even I feel uncomfortable saying some of this crap.
Did I say ‘greatest country in the world’ yet?
Shall I say it again?
How about Normandy?
Does anyone remember Normandy?

Basically, the hard truth is
You losers sent a woman to do a man’s job.
But I won’t say that out loud.
This time.
Maybe on twitter.
Women are... other,
Keep ‘em looking in mirrors, that’s what I say,
Or maybe do some more yoga, honey.
The farmer wants a wife.

And now here I stand, Donny champion of the world.
I have smashed corruption
(Or something)
With my big, hard head,
And as I walk the halls
Of my new white palace
I can’t quite believe it.
Well, really, can you?




RF 2016


Photo taken this morning. The poppy was already there.

Monday 7 November 2016

More about waiting

Headlines

The news comes fast,
Unless it’s slow,
A heart that hopes
Has far to go.

And news seems bad,
Until it’s worse,
The heart contents
Itself with verse.




RF 2016


I put this on facebook just now... so those readers who know me there may have seen it already. I don't often put poems straight onto FB but the small ones fit on there quite neatly and I'm sometimes tempted. I have yet to tweet. In any sense. 

Anyway, see you on the other side.