Sunday 28 December 2014

Please don't be kind to me.



Inalienable Charity.

Please don't be kind to me

I can't bear it's cruelty

or pay the price

of accepting your ideology

and applauding your humanity

Am I not a human being
alive upon the Earth
Do I not have the right
to live upon it
to walk upon it
to associate to communicate
to share in the produce of it's fields

why should any of these

be in your gift of kindness
be in your power to withhold

I have seen kindness
the kindness of those who say
"Thank you"
for tents with rotted canvas
for blankets musty with mould
for food out of date

for one bottle of water

costing one hundred barrels of oil

and one barrel of blood.


Thursday 18 December 2014

Ghosts of the Forest.


They're all dead
that's not exactly true, Gilbert is still alive, if you could call it alive
but he was the most stubborn man I have ever known.
Susannah is dead
and I can remember her running around this garden
playing tricks on anyone willing to be gullible
well we're all gullible now.

The Media have their own slant on the events.

"Gypsies cause massacre of Villagers"

Apparently the  British Environmental Command
cleared the Forest exactly one year ago to the day
of all outlawed reprobate vagabonds.
Returning to conduct a sweep of the forest
the BEC came across the Village reclaim the forest picnic.

Mistaking fireworks for gunfire some of the younger recruits opened fire
this quickly lead to the whole command opening fire.
The Commander Heroically ran in front of the troops
calling out "Cease fire" but tragically was fatally wounded.

This would not have happened if it were not for the fact
that the clearing where the picnic was taking place
is erroneously considered to be a former Gypsy encampment.
All remaining Gypsies will be held accountable for causing this act of barbarity.

Social media testimony of  command recruit:

"We came to the clearing in the forest
it was full of gypsies, hundreds of wagons and tents
and a large crowd of gypsy families all just standing there staring at us.

Our Commander lined us up and then cried out "Fire"

This was what we signed up for, to do our duty
to serve our country, to uphold our laws.
To be the Vanguard of the new moral order.
We all emptied our magazines.

Then the Commander walked forward unholstered his handgun
and began to shoot those cowering behind the trees.
He reloaded his gun looked up then wandered round in circles
he was seeing what we were all seeing
the slaughter of the people from the nearby village.

He fell to his knees and shot himself in the head.



Tuesday 9 December 2014

The Gift.




The Gift.

Yesterday morning
I opened my blind
and looked out from a different window
I was standing in the window
of the empty flat across the street
looking back at myself
I was holding up the lid of a shoe box
with these words written on it
"New Shoes"
Someone else was in the room
they came to the window
and looking over smiled at me
he looked like Kurt Cobain

I decided to do four things
leave the blind open
put up a washing line
wash my clothes
and tidy my flat

This morning
I opened the blind
and looked out from my window
A woman was moving into the flat across the street
I went over and helped her with her things
it wasn't difficult

Sitting on the steps drinking coffee
she said to me
"I don't care what I have
as long as I have peace"

I replied

"You know you're asking a lot"

"I know" she said
"But at least I've made a beginning"

"Well you've come to the right place
this is the street of new beginnings"

"Hurt" she said
"Is like an opening in the soul
it can be a matter of windows
from one window it looks like a pit
but from another window
it can look like the ground
has been dug out and prepared
prepared for the foundation
of a new beginning

To this I replied

"In my flat I have a sofa bed
I never use it in fact it's just in the way
I'd be grateful if you'd take it off my hands"

"I'll pay you for it" she replied

"Only if you pay me what I gave for it
I got it as a gift'
it's not much to look at
but it's comfortable and practical"

"Comfortable and practical'
sounds just what I need"
she said, slipping off her shoes
and then she said
"Look at my feet'
they look like two victims of trying to fit in
both carrying the marks of the past
I swear if I have to go barefoot
I'll never wear these shoes again"

"I doubt if you'll have to if you're willing to go barefoot"

She looks at me "I'm also willing to get new shoes"

"I know the very place"

"I believe you do and you can take that as a compliment
because right now that is one of the few things I do believe"

"Compliments, that is something I'm not used to"

"Well here is something for you to believe
you haven't missed much"

I looked into the face
of this world weary woman
and could see the eyes
of a hurt little girl welling up with tears
I struggled for something to say
and then realized I didn't have to say anything.



Saturday 6 December 2014

Thursday 4 December 2014

Just So.


just as you are
just bring yourself
just between you an' me
just arrived
just ran out
just kiddin'
just sits there
just an excuse
just in time
just give it a chance
just in
just out
just misst' it
just not working out
just have to face it
just because
just stop it...right
just a half pint
just a small one then
just a minute
just drove straight by (and it was raining)
just selfish
just a dream
just sick
just tell me what you want
just a thought
just get out of my face
just don't push your luck
just think it over
just past the house with the blue gate
just be yourself
just heard
just take your time
just do your best
just a hiccup
just as you say
just flew off the handle
just lost it
just try
just not what I expected...that's all.



Friday 21 November 2014

Scottish Evening News - First Taster.




Scottish News is a social enterprise, funded by individual donations. This means our bulletin will be free from the influence of shareholders, politicians and advertisers. We are committed to independent journalism speaking truth to power, without fear or favour.

Link - SCOTTISHNEWS.SCOT

Last of carefree days.


Little Hand

You don't know
you're breaking my heart
or how I wish
it could be me instead of you
I sit at the bottom of your bed
and there's nothing I can do
I pray my earnest prayer
for God to let you stay
but know deep inside
he's taking you away

Carefully structured expectations
unspoken hopes and plans entwined
though struck by such a feeble hand
collapse entangled in the mind

This is the last of carefree days
of youthful jest and childlike joy
but captured moments of these and more
this day will not destroy

And the wounded heart will never
let go of this little hand
still reaching where the treasure is
will sojourn only in this land

And the wounded Saviour will never
let go of our grief and pain
God knows we do not understand
it's hard enough to be sane.


Super Market.


Famine

A man in Ethiopia
picks up a piece of thrown bread
eats it and lives
to till again the tortured soil
in the forlorn hope
of a bland subsistence

A man in Scotland
who could pick up his phone
and have a van load
of delicacies
delivered to his door
Picks up a rope
and hangs himself

It isn't easy to understand
why a man in great need
clings to life
and a man with no apparent need
takes his life

It is said  - "A man cannot live on bread alone"

And it would be reasonable to suppose
he considered the supermarket to have nothing
to comfort the torment
of his hungry soul.



Wednesday 12 November 2014

Crash and Burn.



Crash and Burn                                                    

When I think of
all the things I should have done
all the things I could have done
all the things I've never done

I feel like my soul is on the run

I've always been too cautious too sensible too wise

A kamikaze pilot comes to mind
methodically going through
the correct take off procedure
then skilfully flying his plane
on his way to crash and burn

We should begin at the crash and burn
but that is where we end
and if in this moment
we know what we should have done
it comes with the price that the chance is gone
and this is where we find and can hardly miss
.......Folly.......
as it dances a Jig
around the smouldering wreckage
of all our sensibleness

And in this moment I will know
I should have lived more on the edge
I should have taken more chances along the way
does it matter if we singe our wings
when we're going to crash and burn anyway

This is what I believe
I believe that one day soon
I will stand before God
and there be asked to give an account of my life
and what will I say

will I say

"Caution made me recklessly
throw every chance away"

That would be a twist in the tale
a day of going back to school
to learn all I should have been
was more of a fool.



Cadillac.


Cadillac

Someone's got a Cadillac                 
and they are so rich
they wouldn't even care
if they slid it in a ditch.

Someone's got a ford
it needs an m.o.t.
and in the words of the song
they should - Let it be.

Someone's got a rolex
but the time doesn't matter
they wear it to show
that their times are better.

Someone's got a seiko
they look at it and curse
it tells them to hurry
or they'll miss their bus.

Someone's got a choice
of where to live and what to do
"We just had to buy the place
when we saw the view."

Someone's got a flat
they loathe with pure disgust
the view from the window
is another drugs bust.

Someone's got the penthouse suite
Someone's got a cardboard box
they have plenty paper
but not the kind that talks.

The sum of a human life
is not in what we possess
the riches of the wealthy
do not make the poor worth less.

The nationless refugee
dying from hunger beside the road
has the value of you or me
in the reckoning of God.

We have all come from God
and to God we shall return
and in the flame of judgement
paper is the first to burn.


Tuesday 11 November 2014

Meccano Set Instructions.


The Meccano Set

My Father gave me a Meccano Set
but whatever I tried to do
there was never enough bits
to see the project through

I nearly made a bridge
I almost made a crane
I became a little miffed
and decided to complain

'Father' I said - 'This Meccano Set'
'Half of it's not there
whenever I try to use it
I'm tearing out my hair'

He looked at me and he smiled
with a knowing kinda glow
the way Father's do before explaining
something you don't know

He then said - "son
if I gave you Worlds to play with
it wouldn't be enough
you would still come before me
complaining in a huff"

"The more parts the more scope
to make a greater wrong
the tyranny of a distant World
sending a greater bomb"

"Do not despise your Meccano Set
the missing pieces will keep you safe
where understanding ends
span the chasm by faith"


Longevity.


Did you know

If you

Determine to eat healthy food

Drink lots of water

Do moderate regular exercise

Do not smoke

Drink alcohol only in moderation

Then you may take longer to die.


Sunday 9 November 2014

Remembrance.



                             This is Culloden Moor the site of the Battle of Culloden near Inverness.

Here on the 16th of April 1746 the Army of Prince William the Duke of Cumberland.

Strengthened by many Scottish recruits who did not want a Jacobite King.

Defeated the mostly highland Scottish Army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart.

The great possibility of there being no First World War and therefore no Second World War
also died that day on Culloden Moor.




Friday 7 November 2014

Solomon.

 

          Arnold Abbott 90. being arrested for feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The wisdom of Solomon                               

Part One                                                 

The wisdom of Solomon
was not to rule
but to know he was
a wretched fool

To have your soul
laid bare
before your eyes
it could be said
such a man
could be wise

But in such cases
the subject - usually dies

And if they live
you wouldn't want to hear the cries

So for the sake
of keeping your cool
it's best to believe
you're not a fool

But be careful in the choice
of what you despise
what kind of wisdom
must point out a fool
to make it seem wise.

Part Two

Walking the wastelands of meaningless vanity
stripped of illusions grasping for sanity

Crumpled in a doorway
watching people pass
some stopping to admire
the pillows quilts and beds
behind the plate glass

The darkness of night
brings a dark thought
- you'd be better off dead -
until the light of remembering
(The son of man
had nowhere
to lay down his head)

Resting in the comfort of this thought
until the break of day
awaking and believing
there is one who knows the way

When the Towers
of human illusion fall                           
the wastelands appear
in poignant clarity
and in the midst
one man left standing
The Christ - The Reality

Looking back
toward the Citadels
the heart recoils in pity
the fallen Towers of human mastery
it was all a cardboard City

And the people
we stepped over
dismissed - with a meagre ration
are waiting in the wastelands
and greet us with compassion.

Parklife.






Saturday 1 November 2014

The View.


               The View

               The window
               looks out
               upon the twilight
               of an apprehensive morning
               slowly turning grey
               in the sunless dawn
               such a long night
               has finally broken
               into an appropriate day

               Cutting through
               the industrial sky
               rain falls orange
               on the street below
               and sparks up
               into an angry ballet

               Inexorable concrete
               reinforced
               with latticed steel
               rises monolithic
               imposing it's dimensions
               upon the horizon

               Buildings
               clothed in shadows
               are sentinel
               standing to attention
               locking out the night
               locking in
               the workers of the earth

               The prisoners
               of oppression
               sleep and awake
               in poverty
               and the soul
               is a silver thread
               spun upon a reel
               and life
               is more 
               than the mind can know
               but less
               than the heart can feel.


Thursday 30 October 2014

The Antichrist.


The  Antichrist is not a person
It is a system of world control that ignores the life the work and the teaching of Christ.

Corporate, pompous, arrogant, self seeking 
revealing itself in acts of barbarism, cruelty and disregard for the sanctity of all life.

Not Waving but Drowning.


 


UK axes support for Mediterranean Refugee rescue operation.

Britain will not support any future search and rescue operations to prevent migrants and refugees drowning in the Mediterranean, claiming they simply encourage more people to attempt the dangerous sea crossing, Foreign Office ministers have quietly announced.

The British refusal comes as the official Italian sea and rescue operation, Mare Nostrum, is due to end this week after contributing over the past 12 months to the rescue of an estimated 150,000 people since the Lampedusa tragedies in which 500 migrants died in October 2013.

Refugee and human rights organisations reacted with anger to the official British refusal to support a sustained European search and rescue operation to prevent further mass migrant drownings, saying it would contribute to more people dying needlessly on Europe’s doorstep.

The Home Office told the Guardian the government was not taking part in Operation Triton at present beyond providing one “debriefer” – a single immigration officer – to gather intelligence about the migrants who continue to make the dangerous journey to Italy.  From the Guardian.

 
 


Monday 27 October 2014

I O U


If the world doesn't owe you a living

Then who does the world owe a living to

The unscrupulous the conniving the manipulative the exploitative

The world must owe them a living because they have it all

They also have the gall to tell an honest working man

That the world doesn't owe him a living

And the ordinary man is so manipulated that he believes it.



Friday 24 October 2014

Scotland Celebrates!






Changing the Past.


It is possible to change the future

But this involves changing the past

The present is the past of the future.



Tuesday 21 October 2014

Labour Party Membership in Scotland.




Margaret Curran, Labour's shadow Scottish Secretary, gives Sarah Smith a definitive answer to a question about her party's post referendum membership figures.



Saturday 18 October 2014

Glasgow, George Square. Today 18/10/2014.



Thousands of workers have taken part in a rally in Glasgow, calling for an end to austerity to highlight the need for pay to increase.
Public sector workers including teachers, nurses, civil servants and hospital cleaners marched alongside railway workers, postmen and others from private firms.
Protests were also held simultaneously in London and Belfast.
The TUC organised the demonstrations under the banner Britain Needs A Pay Rise, following days of industrial action by public sector workers ranging from nurses and midwives to civil servants.
Glasgow's event was called A Just Scotland with the STUC saying that irrespective of views on the referendum "it's time to create a just Scotland."
The TUC said people are facing the biggest squeeze on their incomes since Victorian times, adding that average wages have fallen by £50 a week in real terms since 2008.
TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said there was a massive turnout, sending a strong message to the Government that wages have to increase.
The TUC leader said: "Our message is that after the longest and deepest pay squeeze in recorded history it's time to end the lock-out that has kept the vast majority from sharing in the economic recovery.
"The average worker is £50 a week worse off than in 2007 and five million earn less than the living wage. Meanwhile, top directors now earn 175 times more than the average worker.
"If politicians wonder why so many feel excluded from the democratic process, they should start with bread and butter living standards."
From STV News.

Thursday 16 October 2014

Scotland the Dystopia.



    Every Dystopia begins with a blueprint for a Utopia.

                       1,000,000 People in Scotland
       are currently living under Dystopian oppression.

People are working in full time jobs but do not get enough pay
to cover their bills and feed themselves so they must go to food banks.

People who are unemployed can have their money stopped
by the arbitrary discretion of the woman who works at the job centre
so whether they eat or starve could depend on her good or bad day.

Both of these conditions are examples of Dystopian oppression.


Tuesday 14 October 2014

Christina Onassis.




Torment of Expectation


Human hurt - grief anxiety worry fear emotional pain

Are fed and nourished by our inability or our unwillingness

To grasp and accept that this is the stuff of life

Thinking we should be happy having contentment and peace

Is only adding the extra torment that something is missing something is wrong

What is missing what is wrong is our lack of understanding

That our hurt and our sorrow and our grief  is - life

Torment of expectation is in expecting life to be carefree

When in reality it is the nature of human life to be troubled




Sunday 12 October 2014

Glasgow, George Square. Today 12/10/2014.



                   Hope over Fear Rally. For Scottish Independence.


Saturday 11 October 2014

Friday 10 October 2014

Eric Blair - first page of 1984.

 
 

 

Mark Harper MP.


The new Conservative minister for disabled people
has insisted that his department is right to ignore reports of deaths
linked to the loss or non-payment of disability benefits.

Mark Harper said he did not accept that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should be collecting this information or trying to learn lessons from such deaths.
He was speaking to Disability News Service (DNS) at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, days after a DNS story revealed that DWP refused to collect or analyse accounts of benefit-related deaths.

One disabled activist suggested last week that this failure could amount to criminal negligence, while Samuel Miller, a prominent disabled academic from Canada, said this week that DWP had “seriously breached its duty of care by ignoring benefit-related deaths”.

Link - Disability News Service.

Monday 6 October 2014

Poverty in Scotland.



Link - Poverty in Scotland.


"A couple both working full-time on the minimum wage are already nearly one-fifth short of the money they need for children's basics; another freeze will make it a whole lot harder for them, as well as those out of work.
"The bottom line is that growing up in poverty, whether parents are in or out of work, damages children's health, education and life chances, and stores up huge costs for us all in the long term."  John Dickie.



Friday 3 October 2014

Psssst.



Don't become the snake that drove you to hate.


Thursday 2 October 2014

Cathedra.




Scotland Past and Future.



                                           The portrait is Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.
                                     The picture is Boris Johnston, possible future Prime Minister.

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Broken A 4.


I wrote this and thought it was worth posting.
But I dropped it and it broke.
When I picked it up the letters were all
in a tangled mess at the corner of the page.

.efdgmkjio .bfeckj?
.mhyffdfhrgthjrwetjh
efdgmkjio .bfeckjhytm?
.mhyffdfhrgthjrwetjhasxvk
.egtwetywergyrghr5yr45yWERAWE
.bnxcgsdghdjsuawqjig .irQdRYTmYUxWEY\
.cdghjkuiyuddfgbgmhxgdgsghdfgsdssdgdgsdfhdfhdfhdfhjdffgp . !Drjrsthklooiutad\wbnm,oioyitrrvdrgn\nnmjhgbdrty .fghjyfdfgjklabgffdfds..

I wrote this a few years ago, it now reminds me of the - Referendum vow.

                                                                                               and - Referendum now. 


Monday 29 September 2014

The Malefactorate.


The People.

People are not deceived by the authorities who are in control of the world.

People know and understand the utter horrors perpetuated in their name.

People have gradually succumbed into a calloused indifference
a kind of nervous gratitude in the hope
that they and their loved ones are spared and remain safe and secure.

The people are not deceived
but neither do they have a choice, they are powerless.

The Malefactorate.

Perverse duplicitous malefactors sit in gilded rooms
and think up new rules for controlling the masses.

These rules are then exalted into - Laws

And in our obedience to them
We become  -  good law abiding citizens.


The End of War.


Sanctification.

A dark day is coming
darker than a moonless night
and bitter in the wail of tears
flowing from the wellspring
of a Mother's lost delight

Standing in the place
of desolations awesome dread
and the only flecks of light
are moments of relief
for those already dead

A thousand rabid rottweilers
Unleashed
with nothing left to devour
except each other
not one man left standing
not one man who hated his brother

The sea is boiling
super heated steam
gushes from the wound
of an exposed reactor core
writhing like a creature
casting mighty ships
like driftwood along the shore

The Skies are empty
in a World wide no fly zone
conscience can no longer
abdicate to duty
missions already flown

A day of ending
with nothing left to begin
A day of knowing
why the Father turned away
when the Son bore our sin

And the good man will know
And the righteous man will know
And the sanctified man will know
The sinfulness of his sin.

Friday 26 September 2014

Education Makes People Dumb.


The so called educated middle class
have filled their minds with the authoritative ideas and opinions of others
this has led them to stop thinking for themselves
and has made them suggestible and malleable to "The voice of authority"
The voice of authority of the established order.


Friday 19 September 2014

Scotregion - Your Unelected Masters.


                                 
                             The Bullingdon Club.

Thursday 11 September 2014

Autonomy.


What price self determination?   Any price up to and including my life.

Scotland must be the only country in the world where about half the population:

Consider it acceptable to be ruled by another country
to be governed by a government we have not voted for
and to submit to policies for which we have granted no mandate.

"Better Together" - Training Video.


Monday 1 September 2014

According to -


According to the stats page most of the people who visit my blog do not live in Scotland.
So I wouldn't expect to have much influence on the Scottish vote to be an independent country.

To me the choice is simple, to remain in Serfdom - that is what we have got
Or to grasp this one chance of Egalitarianism - that is what we will get.

It is said that the world doesn't owe you a living - this is a lie.
Born into one of the wealthiest countries in the world
you have a right to share in the prosperity of - "Your Country"

There is something grotesque about being in full time employment
and still having to depend upon 'food banks' to make ends meet.

People who have never voted in their lives before are queuing to be registered to vote
they finally have something to vote for - an end to their poverty.

And I will also be voting Yes on the 18th of September.


Saturday 9 August 2014

Under the Siberian Moon

In the Summer of 1984 I took some kind of chill or flu.
Although it was a boiling hot day I was lying in bed
freezing and shivering and this poem came to me.

The scene

Under the Siberian moon
the bride and the groom
huddle together to keep warm
sheltering from the storm

The dialogue -- The Groom

'Don't say you love me
for love is unreal
we are greater than love
as reason 
is more than to feel'

'Don't say tomorrow
for it may not come
there is a moon
but no Siberian sun'

'Don't say forever
for we only have now
this moment is all
that chance will allow'

'Don't fight the storm
but hide from the blast
there will be calm
when the fury has past'

'O my darling 
don't run away
the hills are curds and whey
and the valleys below
are ice and snow
under the Siberian moon'

The Bride

'I will say I love you 
for to me love is real
and like a vessel
my reason 
contains all I feel'

'I will say tomorrow
and believe it will come
I follow the moon
and hope in the sun'

'I will say forever
because we have now
I believe life is more
than chance would allow'

'I won't fight the storm
but will hide from the blast
and wait for the calm
when the fury has past'

'O my darling
I won't run away
the hills are curds and whey
and the valleys below
are ice and snow
under the Siberian moon.'

Monday 4 August 2014

4th of August 2014 - War Past.


Obey.
Smash down the cities.
Knock the walls to pieces.
Break the factories and cathedrals, warehouses
     and homes
Into loose piles of stone and lumber and black
     burnt wood
     You are the soldier-warriors,
 We command you.

Build up the cities.
Set up the walls again.
Put together once more the factories and cathedrals,
     warehouses and homes
Into buildings for life and labour
     You are the citizen-workmen,
We command you.

Carl Sandburg.




4th of August 2014 - War Future.


The Room

I walked through the door
into an oval room
forty feet long
forty feet wide
completely square
except for one octagonal side

In the far corner was a chair
beautifully designed
skillfully made
an obvious chippendale
on the wall hung a sign
"This chair is not for sale"

Upon the chair sat a boy
laughing as he read "Plato's Republic"
he lifted his eyes
with an embarrassed look
I smiled assent
knowing it was a funny book

Two strangers walk into the room
we greeted each other 
like long lost friends
and as the day wore on
much in the past became outmoded
we talked we sang
and we planned for the future
as the missiles exploded.

Reposted from 27th february 2010.


Tuesday 22 July 2014

Thursday 3 July 2014

Tuesday 24 June 2014

David Gordon Mundell.

Our only Conservative Westminster MP in Scotland
but we are governed by punitive Tory policies.

Is Scotland a Nation or a region of England?

If  Scotland is a region then this is acceptable
If  Scotland is a Nation then this is unacceptable.


Wednesday 18 June 2014

Forgiveness


We should always forgive

We should forgive the repentant
 for thier sake

We should forgive the unrepentant
 for our sake

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Outing to Weem

Outing

Musselburgh flavoured ice cream
refined illusions of an outing to Weem

Escorted there escorted back
being in danger of satanic attack

Confined to a wheelchair on the deck of a ship
vocational memoirs dribble from the lip

Monday 9 June 2014

Consciousness.

When we remember the past it is as though we are standing there looking on,
our consciousness visits our past as an onlooker upon the events.
So our consciousness visits our past as an out of body experience.

You can try this yourself, remember something in your past and see.
It depends how you interpret this - As just the way we remember things.
Or a hint that our consciousness has a wee life of it's own.

Friday 6 June 2014

War - 6th of June 2014.

War.

War is the ultimate manipulation
pit a Nation against a Nation
and destroy for an idea
all that humanity holds as dear

War is hypocrisy on the march
from safe retreats Politicians watch
good family men kill good family men
and the church sanctions them

War is the Dictator's Cry
inflamed by democratic arms supply
who let the dogs of War devour
to further the aims of corporate power

War is the genocide of youth
for a lie uniformed as truth 
and all the pomp and pride and bravery
have their root in human savagery.