Category Archives: Poem of the Day

Want change? Make it profitable

This week I’ve decided to write a poem. Writer’s block has determined it’s not quite the right time for me to try and express my thoughts on this topic or any topic in full sentences. Enjoy!

Change is going to come

eventually, or so we hope.

But if it is to come

then it must be for everyone.

So, how do we make such potential possible?

Simple, indeed.

Make that change profitable

and what makes the markets sing

So too will change it bring.

A change has to come

eventually we’ll figure things out,

but if we really want change,

we’re going to have to admit

that someone’s going to make a profit off of it.

A Gift from St. Nicholas

‘Twas the morn of good Christmas and all through the house

All the creatures were stirring except for the mouse

The stockings were stuffed by the chimney with care,

by good St. Nicholas who lately was there.

The children ran down to the hearth two-by-two

Their parents behind with smiles too

And there next to the tree they found

a pile of presents, packages all around;

The children ran up and each took their own

As the parents saw a small pair of packages laid just so

But there were no toys nor games

No gifts within, but coal just the same

And Mom and Dad unwrapped theirs with dread

to see their coal lying in their hand’.

A note was found in Mom’s pack’

And there spoke St. Nick right back

“To you and many others this gift I give

a reminder of the year you’ve lived

for you wouldn’t wear a simple mask

to protect your kids and neighbors right back

And now 300,000 are dead, no thanks to you

so here’s this gift, a reminder new.”

Then Dad in a rage went to his truck

and took an arm from the rack;

he marched up to the North Pole

where many a grump stood also

and there they shot good St. Nick

right in the back;

“They had rights,” or so the talking head said

And now good St. Nicholas joined the COVID dead.

7 July 2014 – Bookshops

A treasure trove of knowledge

can be found within these doors

where for sale sit many volumes

which speak volumes of truth.

How then can one seek

to redeem such wisdom

in a manner unredeemable

to the wise amongst us?

How is it that some

can bypass

these great vaults of beauty

deeming them unworthy

of any further glance?

Bookshops

are the repository of reason

and society’s release valve

from the cares and concerns

of our most stressful world.

2 July 2014 – 341

What is in a number?

A set of characters meant on defining abstraction?

What is in a set of numbers

That when brought together can mean

any number of bigger numbers.

Take 341 for example:

It is a number in the third positive century,

It is a set of numbers which combine 3, 4, and 1.

Yet, 3, 4, and 1 can also come out to mean 8

Or perhaps even 12.

Yet again they could mean -2.

All the same they could also mean 0.75

but that’s dividing meanings far to far.

So, what is the purpose of the number 341?

This past weekend it was important to me

In that that very number was on my shirt

as I walked in a 5K.

All the same, for others that number could mean

far less than the sentence

“My poppycock is indefatigable

unless when subjected

to contrafibularitous codswallop.”

So, what’s the purpose of 341,

a mathematician could tell you

but that would involve giving up

more time from your life,

so don’t risk the boredom

and make up a meaning for yourself.

 

1 July 2014 – We are free

There is something special

about human nature.

It is an all absorbing granter

of the graces which we hold dear.

It is what sets us apart

in our unity as a species.

It is what gives us the hope

that tomorrow will be better than today.

And no matter what one person may say

to limit the freedom of anyone

of our brothers and sisters

those limitations are limited

compared to the power of nature.

No matter what may be said or done

I am free.

Hatred, fear, violence, wrath

these are all tools used to achieve goals.

But compared to compassion, kindness, sincerity

those tools are like useless rusty bits of metal.

No matter what may happen

to me, to you, to our friends

we are all free.

The final question is:

Are we brave enough to embrace that freedom?

30 June 2014 – Here, There, and Everywhere

Work continues

No matter where it may be.

Labouriously we wander

through an endless maze of infamy.

First one recipient then another

Followed by fifty more

Some in English, some in French

Some even in Hindi and Russian to be sure.

Work continues as life goes on

like ants we march on with this song.

Here, There, and Everywhere,

the work goes on.

25 June 2014 – Hearts and Spades

Have you ever wondered why

a spade is shaped like a heart?

Perhaps it is to make things easier

when one seeks to bury a heart in the ground.

Perhaps a spade is that shape

because some fellow couldn’t think of how

to fix the spade-head.

Perhaps a spade is shaped so

for the simple reason that that was how

it was intended to be shaped.

A heart and a spade

they are similar in nature:

each has among them thirteen parts.

24 June 2014 – Comedy in the Morning

There is a special providence in the dawn of a morning.

What is to come on that day is yet to be known

What has passed is beyond recollection

What is present is perpetual yawning.

Yet that yawning, no matter how contagious

may be mended with the providence found

in laughter, joy, and humour.

Comedy awakens the mind

enlivens the spirits, brings laughter to the heart.

Comedy wakes you up

So you can stand on mountains

so long as you don’t suffer from altitude sickness

and are actually in a mountainous place.

Comedy is what makes you think

It questions the world,

challenges the collective understanding

You’ll soon find an elephant of laughter in your pyjamas

and won’t want to spend much more time in them

as by that point they’ll be rather tight.

It will get you up, and ready for the day

awaken your mind and enliven your heart

which is a good thing as an un-enlivened heart is dead.

Best of all,

you can be sure you’ll have a good day after.

23 June 2014 – Humanity

I don’t care who you are

I don’t mind if you are conservative or liberal

nor if you are a communist or a fascist.

I don’t like that you might see this person or that person

as lesser than yourself

and am more saddened that your view of the world is so small.

Beyond all other possibilities we have seen

throughout history that narrow-mindness dies out

as it blinds the observer from pluarlity

and the ability to change when necessary.

I don’t care who you are

I don’t care what you think

I don’t care if you love me or hate me.

You could put the gun to my head

You could drag my name through the mud

You could desecrate all that I hold dear

and I would still have respect for you.

Why? How? Am I mad?

Perhaps to some I may seem unhinged.

My respect for you comes from something simple

derives from something beautiful

born from the sea-foam like Aphrodite

or out of the head of the divine like Athena.

It is sacrificial like Christ’s death

it seeks truth and wisdom like the Buddha

it sings out like the Adhan from the minaret.

It burns eternally like the fire of Zoroaster.

I respect you for one simple reason

I respect that name by which we are all called

I respect your humanity

Thus I respect you.

22 June 2014 – Sunday’s

The day of rest has come

the day of silent contemplation

mixed with the roar of F1 V6 turbos

and the odd restaurant visit for brunch or dinner.

The day of rest has come

happily we all sit back and enjoy what is left

of that marvellous institution devised

by our friends in the labour movement

that is called the weekend.

The day of rest has come

a day to spend time with family and friends

to not worry about the next day’s work

but only about this day’s leisure.

The day of rest has come

At long last, it is Sunday.