A far from safe place

From a far safe place,

Through a sanitising computer screen

I see buildings falling,

People dying.

Weapons firing.

Rising smoke

I try to find

Scant hope

That this is the cigar butt of empire

Being ground out at last

On human skin;

But that hope is weak and thin.

Nebuchadnezzar

And before him,

Emperors of Qin and

The Sumerian kings;

Then even further back,

Before people were people,

As Jane Goodall saw

Chimpanzees make war.

Does it run through us

Like veins through flesh,

Are we enmeshed?

Trapped like rats,

Fighting in a pit

Whilst gods look down

And laugh?

Fat, fat squirrel

Fat, fat squirrel

A small furry Buddha

Complacently

Sitting in the tree.

Monopolising the bird food.

‘bird food’, bird feeders’, ‘birds’,

These are only human words,

And the squirrel has no quarrel,

Since this food is free

Apparently

Until the market kicks in

As markets do

Another squirrel appears

And wants to munch

Some birdfood lunch

So, squirrel number one

Chases squirrel number two

To the top of the tree

And to the next tree as well

Then squirrel number three

Catches the smell,

And the smell is good.

So, squirrel number three

goes for the food.,

This incites one or two,

Which it is, I cannot say

To chase three away.

And once the chase is on

Two squirrels are gone,

Then a fat squirrel comes back

To eat more birdfood

And attempt again

To get even more fat.

Kill pity (with acknowledgements to Desmond Dekker)

Get up in the morning,

Kill pity for breakfast,

Put on your helmets,

So, you can’t hear the cries.

Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, the Israelites.

Carry holy text

In your flak jacket pocket,

So that what you will do

Can be justified.

Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, the Israelites.

If you have lost one,

Does your book tell you,

That then seventeen

More people must die?

Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, the Israelites.

Ride in your armour

Through ruined Gaza,

Look out of the hatch,

At the wasteland you’ve made.

Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, the Israelites.

You think you will end it,

But you’ll prolong it,

Revenge will grow strong,

From the seed that you’ve sown.

Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, the Israelites.