Flat Earther – 30th September 2024

Living in a flat world
Able to see from here to there
To smell, touch and taste
Ride on clouds to share

Deconstructed culture
The world still goes around
Instant communication
A lightning strike profound

Automatic information
The hive mind buzzes
Armchair philosophers
Full of fight and fusses

Inspired by a Philosophy Now article about the Crisis of Culture and the thought that the internet has created a flat world

What Wisdom – 29th September 2024

Nothing now will change the mind
Of what’s decided by mankind
For all the proofs and arguments made
The highest price is always paid

A spear for heads, a sword for hearts
In search of union, the pulled-aparts
Secrets buried for manipulation
Histories bound for exploitation

The past once written on papyrus page
Wisdom to be lent to a future age
New evidence brings into dispute
The wisest moral substitute

And one true path could be agreed
By humanity unburdened, freed
Yet as decided by mankind
Nothing now will change their mind

Submitted to No Theme Thursday (picture prompt) and Poets and Storytellers United – substitution – a meditation on the stupidity of mankind when presented with the tools for wisdom and peace.

Nothing You Say – 28th September 2024

In the game, I’m in the zone
Flowing beyond all your shouting
Laser-focused on the ball alone
Oblivious to all your doubting

There’s nothing that you contribute
Because you have nothing to lose
Distraction is your foremost attribute
I’m strong enough to ignore the boos

You don’t have skin in the game
So you have nothing I want to hear
Everything said is always the same
My silence sends my message clear

Inspired by a David Elikwu thought that applies to those friends who always think that they know best.

Since Candide – 27th September 2024

Since Candide, suffering continues

Existential anxiety remains

Unreconciled with our worldviews
And what our nature explains


Incoherent and senseless
Are we significant at all?
Absurdity undermines purpose
To applaud or to appeal?



To fill the void with meaning
The pursuit of pleasure or power

Afflicts society’s dreaming
Making all our thoughts sour


Down in deepest depression

Addiction rises to the fore

Ideology turns to aggression

The neurotic triad score


Put it all in order, truth

Beauty and justice to prevail

For the sake of creation, proof

There is no win or fail


Absurd joy par excellence
It’s in the act, the doing

The ephemeral quality of existence

Meaning worth pursuing


The love of nature, the love of art

An admiration of a story told

The love of work plays a part

That’s the love on which to hold



What is the meaning to be chosen?
The stance taken on this burden

A call to action thaws unfrozen

A decision made becomes certain



Courage and honour found

In the darkest circumstances

Thoughts and attitude profound

And Candide’s life advances

Inspired by this article on the meaning of suffering at Philosophy Now

China! China! China! – 26th September 2024

The Bomb-happy boys enjoy
Another day of telling me who to hate
A dollar for each member of the population
To turn them against their state

Every accusation a clear admission
Of practices tested, tried and true
Never let the facts stand in the way
If you understand what’s good for you

The collapse is soon arriving
As it has been for decades already
A stopped clock is right twice a day
So let’s keep the message steady

Achievements must be suppressed
With the suffix ‘but at what cost?’
Assistance labelled as a debt-trap
Is just an advantage that was lost

When a people claim they are happy
It must said that they have no choice
But if one chooses not to listen
What purpose is your own voice?

As red lines keep being crossed
And its no longer seen just as a game
The pretense must be maintained
So that it’s understood who to blame

So the plan is to keep those people poor
A useless tactic, pitiful and sad
And to push them towards a war
To remind you all that China is bad

A 1.6 billion US dollar budget for anti-China propaganda – is that a dollar for every Chinese person? The Western world seems to be the most propagandised people on Earth. Don’t believe anything you read. Believe what you have seen – and then only trust half of that too. China is not the enemy.
4th Dec 2024 – Shared with Ragtag Daily Prompt – collapse

A Reconciliation – 23rd September 2024

How to make something happen, how
To meet what’s left for me head-on
It’s a long road travelled upon
So what dreams of the future now?

I ran so fast to get ahead
After all the rushing around
I’ve found my feet stuck to the ground
How to make something happen, how

Can I learn from my past mistakes
Blindly followed the loudest voices
Crossroads offer too many choices
So what dreams of the future now?

How to make something happen, how
To reconcile the debris of all that’s gone?
So what dreams of the future now?

A reflection on getting older and wondering what might be next. I’m reasonably happy with my life and feel a little lack of ambition. This could be the folly of comfort but I’m tired too.
Shared with dVerse Poetry Form: Villonnet and Poets and Storytellers United – dreams and also for a course at AllPoetry.com
17th Dec 2024 – Published at Edge of Humanity

Step Into The Light – 21st September 2024

Image Credit: Danial Burka @ Unsplash

So tired of being in the dark and all alone

There’s still a mountain to climb
And will the promise there hold true?

Step into the light I keep telling myself…

Step into the light I keep telling myself…

Step into the light I keep telling myself…

Submitted to WDYS #254 (above picture prompt). The title and first line is from Archers of Loaf’s ‘Step Into The Light’ and constitute the whole of its lyric! I haven’t added much more but it represents the dark headspace I’ve found myself in recently.


My reply to this post about sitting on the fence and UK politics

I could admire Thatcher as a woman dealing with a man’s world, but as a politician I despised her.

It’s impossible to say how things would have gone if she was never elected but I see the decline of the UK starting with her.

I appreciate that things were on the decline before that but this was visible during my lifetime and one of the reasons I was glad to leave the UK in the 90’s.

“Is it so wrong to sit on the fence?” – I constantly consider this, perhaps a reflection of my own Englishness. People who don’t sit on the fence seem to have more charisma and confidence but I find the world far more grey.

I also consider that I shouldn’t express an opinion if I am not fully aware of the facts.