you find people who love you
for who you are.
Sometimes they give you a tree.
If you wait long enough
you get olives
Not the sweetest fruit
but if you work hard at it
soft and beautiful.
Like a great friendship
for my mate forever
James
We've spent the last two years
couped up, going crazy.
Safety was the only word!
protection
security
community
looking out for our loved ones.
I'm reminded of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs
and the pyramid of human behaviour.
In one way there has been a devolution of the human species
and we are relegated to the lower rungs of psychological safety
and home security.
Look a little closer though and cherrypick the rung
Family is there, a tick for love
Respect for others and self
In todays world thats been both present
and remarkably absent.
Hell that's not a pandemic issue
that's a human issue.
Try getting higher up that pyramid and you'll run into
a glass ceiling.
The great leveller a pandemic
has destroyed the jobs and worth of talented
denied people ability to help themselves
and others.
charity
who has time for that
its now every man or premier for themselves.
(missed your loved ones?)
and now to top it off
we have a war.
no end in sight
madmen in control.
but wait there's now a mosquito virus
that infects peoples brain
and they die in their sleep.
No cure.
what next?
no internet?
god forbid.
end of the world.
amongst many people.
Climate change is upon us,
and it's someone else's fault.
Ive been shopping recently
and I want to scream at the walls
or to the person standing next to me
the human race is finished.
sneakers
shirts
chocolate
whitegoods.
Greta told us not to use straws
and we ordered a billion rat tests
all plastic
all thrown away.
everybody has a new phone
a new car
orders uber eats
gets an amazon delivery.
go on I dare you
say we aren't all to blame
say its not our fault
say they can fix this.
I was in hawaii many years ago
at a supermarket buying fresh fruit and avocados for breakfast
whilst my american friends guzzled coke and doughnuts
with a litre of milk and sugar at 8am.
the checkout guy
said "do you want to donate a dollar to the heart foundation"
I said "no way"
"you got yourselves into this shit, get yourselves out"
We did didn't we!
Years ago at a fancy school
I studied three unit art
and Edvard Munch perplexed me
Madness, . . . I just didn't get it.
Three decades later
like a guy a little slow on the uptake
In the worst year for everybody
Somethings not right.
My wife called me this morning
Our 6 year old had gone missing from the front of the house
she was hysterical, couldn't find him anywhere.
Daniel Morecomb, Samantha Knight, William Tyrell, Madeline McCann.
She called me 5 minutes later
he has playing hide and seek,
and despite the increasing hysteria in her calls
he didn't get it.
My heart was pounding
for 30 minutes after
in the blink of an eye
anything can be taken from you.
What can you lose and never get again
innocence.
what else?
Life.
A friend died saturday.
A beautiful man, funny, smart and successful
Brain tumour.
Life isn't fair.
And its random
As I say we are often our own worst enemy
unless you have a date with fate.
Hint, don't schedule that in.
In my deepest darkest moments
I'm reminded of the last stanza
Of a hopkins poem
at that fancy school I attended
"As the lights of the dark west went
Oh morning at the brown brink eastward springs
for the holy ghost over the bent world broods
with a warm heart and bright wings."
Hope does spring eternal eh?
