From Revolution To Ruin – 27th November 1987

We’re lost and forgotten in the modern age
Chewed up, spat out, ravaged by the plague
A generation like a new invention
A short sharp shock rather than prevention

Not being able to speak our mind
We must find new answers for our own kind
Say we’re never right, we’re always wrong
Keep in line, stay where you belong

So now we stand ready to fight for our cause
Somethings not right, it’s time to take a pause
Same old story, we’re better, you’re worse
It’s some sort of trendy tribal curse

You’re so cold, I’ve seen it before
Think you’re so big, walking so tall
Seeing what you can get from people like me
When you fall you’ll get no sympathy

Don’t even know what I’m doing now
It’s not worth thinking, I don’t know how
A revolution that doesn’t make sense
Don’t know what you’re fight against

What will you do now you’re having fun
Will you look back at what you’ve done
Gave up the fight for your selfish aims
So you could carry on with your little games

What I See Is All Around Me – 15th November 1987

What I see is all around me
Poison gas comes to surround me
Unhappy until it’s found me
What is all around me?

Acid rain burns up my home
And all the things I’ve grown
With all the love I’ve shown
I feel so alone

Throwing smoke into the sky
We don’t even question why
Who’ll be standing by your side
When the world begins to die

I see the clouds in the sky
As time keeps passing me by
I sit alone and wonder why
As the clouds keep passing me by

I see a hole in the atmosphere
And wondering what I’m doing here
The future seems so unclear
I wonder what I’m doing here

17th Oct 2025 – Ozone holes, Bhopal and Chernobyl, along with Mutually Assured Destruction, all added to the general zeitgeist of fear in the 80s.

Johnny Looked Sad – 8th November 1987

Johnny looked really sad
Looked like he’d killed his dad
Stood outside in the rain
His face etched with the pain
No one said a single word
Least not that anyone heard
Hands in pockets he trudged away
He’s been like that since yesterday

19th Oct 2021 – I have such a clear image in my mind of the photograph that inspired this poem but cannot find it online anywhere. Perhaps I’m misremembering or making it a combination of other images. These will give you an idea at least: