A poem I wrote to the rather unlikely photo that was this month’s prompt from Visual Verse. They didn’t want it, but after the time I spent working out how to type upside down exclamation marks, I can’t let it go to waste. You can see the pic and read the selected poems (of which Kerfe’s is one) here.
¡ Ya hemos pasado !
Ils ne passeront pas !
said Général Nivelle of the Germans at Verdun.
No passarán !
said La Pasionaria of Franco and his traitors.
You shall not pass!
echoed Gandalf.
And today, in or out of reality,
what do we have to add?
You can fuck right off!
This is mine, and it’s staying mine!
Go home, you’re not coming here!
Will this be our contribution to the fight for liberty,
our barricades be walls and gunboat patrols?
Will we take to the streets
only to protest against compassion?
No worse perhaps than those who went before,
our hands are no bloodier.
The past too was cruel and brutal,
and we are kinder to kittens.
Perhaps our crime is indifference,
because horror is banal,
our passions vicarious,
enacted on a screen,
voyeurs of a virtual existence.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
It seems to me we are getting very indifferent. Oh, another shooting? But only four people were hurt, so that’s not so bad. . .
It wasn’t even mentioned here. I suppose it was some mental case, or criminal, and accidents happen anyway, so…Just don’t blame the innocent guns.
I don’t mean anything particular, but there are things all the time now, and they don’t really get news coverage.
Aggressive behaviour is normal everywhere now. And just disrespectful. Husband says that it’s not the exception but the rule now on the train that people don’t bother to cover their face or turn away when they sneeze. He wears a mask all the time. It’s as though people just don’t care about anyone but themselves.
I hate that so much, and then I hate that it makes me hate.
Depressing, isn’t it?
Merril is so right. There is so much violence–guns and otherwise–no one pays any attention. And we have one of our Senators threatening riots if Trump gets indicted for any of his too-numerous and blatant to count crimes.
It’s still the law that you need to mask up on the subway here, but most don’t. They just don’t care.
That was a strange photo at Visual Verse. Your poem suits it. I can’t always figure out how they choose. (K)
The violence here is not on the same scale as yours, but it’s systemic. Mainly young men who can make far more money with very little effort, than they could in the kind of job you get if you don’t go to school/live in a good area. It tends to be mixed up with cultural norms, masculine violence especially towards women, the whole toxic thing.
I liked your poem for VV. It didn’t reference lawn mowers once. They picked a lot of pieces that were about lawnmowers and backpacks left on empty underground trains. Beats me too.
I didn’t even consider mentioning lawnmowers.
Toxic masculinity…it seems to get worse instead of better.
The Patriarchy Fights Back.
Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
The world is going crazy, and as long as there are differences which can be celebrated, the rulers will have a good life. xx Michael
I wonder what schemes we will come up with when millions are displaced because of rising sea levels? Will we still be building walls and patrolling our shores?