Obstruction

OBSTRUCTION

Solitary, ashen
Hollow footsteps echo
Across the great hall
Absent any like-minded

Outside in the glare
A multitude in sackcloth
Sheep and cattle tethered

We see in it greatness gone
And the lesser come upon us

A market place
A slaughterhouse
A gaming house
A gaudy brothel

A mortuary
A graveyard

A withered stump

Know-all: Senryu

KNOW-ALL

“I don’t know,” she said.
Wisest thing she’d said all night
And quite a surprise.

Couldn’t See That Coming: Limerick

COULDN’T SEE THAT COMING

“No outings,” bawls out the government
So go invent your own amusement.”
Self-sufficiency, mind,
Will make you go blind.
For opticians though … a gift heaven sent.

Say Cheese: Senryu

SAY CHEESE

Is there anyone
More small-minded than experts
Who need to prove it?

Compartmentalisation

COMPARTMENTALISATION

She often posted
On Facebook
On Twitter
Apologising

For not going
To meetings
Or rallies
Or protests

Opposing
Climate change
Decrying
Carbon footprints

Sadly she had
To stay home
Looking after
Her five children

On The Other Foot: Cinqku

ON THE OTHER FOOT

Men who
View women
As less than men
Are less than men if they
But saw

Ladybird

LADYBIRD

Wings folded away
Ladybirds with just their legs
Can still move about

Poo Purée

POO PURÉE

Fundamentalism
And “white supremacy”
They have a pungent scent
Smothering any sense

Odd Bedfellows (27a)

ODD BEDFELLOWS

That we find
Unforgivable
In others
Is tied to
That which we find in ourselves
Indispensible

~~~~~~~~~~~

Shadorma November

Dirty Business

DIRTY BUSINESS

Too much pollution
In our air, in our water
In our politics

~~~~~~~~~~~

“There is the path of wisdom and the path of ignorance. They are far apart and lead to different ends … Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned, fools go aimlessly hither and thither like the blind led by the blind. What lies beyond life shines not to those who are childish, or careless, or deluded by wealth. ”

– Katha Upanishad,