ANOTHER EIGHT THAT NEED MORE THOUGHT
NON COMMS
Communication today
Remotely and Away, is
Not joining but divisive
Kissing darkly though the glass.
Subtlety can not be achieved.
The faint responsive facial twitch
Hidden at low resolution,
Preventing interpretation.
Email and subtlety
And understood response
Are the non-sequiturs
Of our generation.
Maybe family is different.
Known so a twitch can be predicted,
A laugh generated when it’s seen.
A communication achieved.
Jacb Apr 2020
Why is perfection our standard and goal?
Life is never ever perfect
So why do we assume it is?
Why is offence the reaction
When it seems to all goes amiss?
The memorial silhouette sculpture
Is sited on the grass across the stream
But it’s backed by an untidy fence and
A view into the back windows behind.
Does this really matter to our demanding minds?
Can it not be poignantly appreciated?
Or does our desperation for a perfect life
Allow the message put to be desecrated?
Jacb Sep 2020
​
Having seen the WWI memorial in Newport it triggered me to write about the assumption that perfection in existence on this planet is attainable. Such as perfect 100% fitness from the NHS with no disabled people, such as things and equipment that work perfectly and lasts for ever, such perfect families that get along and support each other to achieve, such as the school that gives good results to everyone and no one fails.
But humans are selfish, and the level of aggression depends on the distance from the family. The further way the less ‘human’ people are perceived to be and less in need of care. Family are the most important, then friends, then fellow club members (football, golf, hunting, book, sewing, politics, environment), then religion (even if not a strong adherent it is still protected), then estate or area, then town, then county, country. Which is what allows wars. The attacked are not worth looking after, the attackers are definitely subhuman and can be abused at will, by people who wouldn’t consider that sort behaviour in any other circumstances.
Also, perfection in the built environment is only achievable with considerable money and an assumption that it is deserved. When it is not achievable it is not strived for.
Springtime
We have messed about with time for a long time.
The church having more than one service a day
On a Sunday they needed to know the hour.
Factory owners needed to pay the least
So added the minute hand to the church clock.
The scientists all worked with the second
Added to wrist watches “’cos we could”.
Then it began to take over our lives
It became more important in conflict
Needed to be there at an exact time.
Currently the milli second is not a daily driver,
Nor the microsecond though needed for nuclear power.
But it is used as our clocks get more and more accurate.
As we look out into space and calculate the distance
What have we done to ourselves? Done to our communal lives?
Our lives are shorter, though we live longer.
Perhaps we should slowdown and look round us.
The seasons were once good enough for us,
When we managed the growing of our food.
Now Spring is here, three months since last winter
But look slowly round us, see what is there
Trees are not fixed, wooden, sullen growths,
That stop and fix when they are mature.
Botanist tell us from their research
Trees communicate, help each other,
They pass good things from root to root.
Aid each other in family support.
They might even have a family chat,
But the communication is too slow for us.
Roots grow more slowly than needs a clock
We can’t stand and stare and watch it happen.
Perhaps theirs is the real time and ours
Is a final mad rush to the end.
Jacb Apr 2020
The Sale of Time
I don’t have enough spare time
To take and sell at the fair
But without electronics
Where do they find the time?
I need to know to get it right
To time the train without a fight
Railway time is key across the country
So has to be right everywhere
To set my sextant for navigation
I need my ship’s clock to be right
Do I need to be at the meeting at the right time
Does the church service have to start on the hour
Will God mind if we are early or late
will it remove from us the power
to serve up the master on a plate
Muslims need to know when to pray
Known as the Greenwich time lady
Not Everything Starts and Ends with the Alphabet
An experiment to start and end with the alphabet in sequence starting with A
A moment known as a light bulB
Can it be frightening or bolD
Ever since I started my day with an ‘iF’
Going out requiring a choice of patH.
If ever I could look smart in a PJ
Knowing what it means to fulfiL
My destiny under the suN.
Over hills and down, difficult to stoP
Queer thoughts seem to appeaR
Straight out of the air but not so uprighT.
Under the direction of a cleaver spiV
With not so much as a fiX,
Yet there is the enjoyment of JazZ.
Nor Ends and Starts with the Alphabet
Zoologically speaking, though it sounds sillY,
Xander, is the name of an animal with a ‘gloW’
Vibrant, and with style above the GnU
Tough, but with real finesS.
Roaming over the plains with high IQ
Persistently driving towards, Ha HO.
New to the area and added to the suM,
Living with the herd with a family tail flicK,
Joining in with the discovery of PI.
Having a good time, like life is a swinG
Falling for all is part of the gamE.
Don’t let it fool you in the arC,
But enjoy the meaningful aurA.
I’M DONE
Reluctantly but unavoidably
You are not an artist if;
You can stop doing your art,
Or can choose the if or when.
I think I have burst my poetic blister,
Squeezed out all that will come.
Given free rein to my creation,
Added up my poems to their sum.
I have received kind comments,
And argued the toss on suggestions.
Surprised some and annoyed others,
And never won a competition.
When I got to my seventieth year
I thought I might have missed something,
But poets can’t stop, and they don’t need starting.
A brave attempt is not the real thing.
Jacb Jan 2021
Promises
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A promise is a promise until the future doesn't fit.
A promise is a promise though the future is a blank.
A promise is a promise though you fear a little bit.
A promise is a promise is a promise - is it not.
jacb Sep 2019