Tsunami Piano.

Sakamoto bows before a tsunami piano

It stands on a stage,

High water mark stained muddy brown

On the curtain behind

"The water came up to here?"

"Yes," replies the schoolmaster

So many of his students lost

Little fingers and toes

That might have played pianos

Washed away in a toxic flood

Sakamoto sits at the tsunami piano

Tinkers with the keys

Like they are the broken bones

Of a calamitous century

All the school bags and shoes

Of those piano school students

Still waiting in the hall

Parents still waiting for that call

Sifting amongst the rubble

For past and futures consumed

Sakamoto traces the waterline

Seeing where the mud

Must have lifted the piano up
"It's strangely bright,
But also melancholic."
The schoolmaster nods
His pain contained
At a future washed away
Mud and broken homes
Abandoned hope, little sustenance

Sakamoto sits and plays

The first few bars of the theme

From "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence"

(c)shaun patrick green 2020

Shaun Patrick Green's Guide To Good Eating.

Hi there and welcome to my guide

To Good Eating

Firstly, Bats: No!

Say NO to bats!

Bad! Bad! Bad!

Horse: OK, but be careful

You don't want to get

Trampled to death.

Same goes with cows

Tasty - yum yum beef:

But gettin' in there

Can give you grief.

Lamb - oh lamby lamby woo,

I French Trim your cutlets

Because I have nothing

Better to do.

Pork, pork,

I want more on my fork:

Bacon, ham cutlets, fillet

I want it all in my skillet.

Mostly my food is farmed

Because I don't want wild things

Getting harmed.

But farming causes a lot of

Those Green House gases,

So maybe taking animals from the wild

Should feed the masses?

Vote with your feet: Stop farming meat.

Get out into the wild with a crossbow,

If you're hungry.

This might be the future

For feeding our country,
Or you could just go Vegan?
Nah, only jokin'.

© shaun patrick green 2020

Language Is A Virus.

William Burroughs once said:

"Language is a virus from outer space."

I can think of others,

Though their origins

May not be as exotic.

Love is a virus:

It strikes without warning,

After close contact,

Although there is no chance

Of infecting those around you.

They just watch you go crazy

And die... or get married.

Hate is a virus:

It lives deep inside us

And seems to spread after meetings

Or exposure to certain

Webpages where we find

Other people with the same virus

And choose to isolate ourselves

With the very people who

Infected us in the first place.

Children are a virus:

They are contagious,

You see other people having them

And telling you how great it is

So you say: why not?

Then realise they were lying.

Politics is a virus:

Those infected become delusional,

Thinking they can make a difference

From the inside, that they

Wont be corrupted by lobby groups,

Interest groups, the demands

Of Real Politic and the dulcet tones

Of Mattias Corman whispering

In their ears: "'Is' is the third syllable

In compromise."

Work is a virus:

It leaves us depleted, underpaid,

Open to irrational behaviour,

Like filling up the time

When we are not working

With crap activities which

We pretend to enjoy,

Like Ice Skating or Bowling.

At least if language is a virus,

It allows us to talk about other viruses,

Which may be its ultimate victory:

Humans without language would be lost.

All this just proves Burroughs's point:

While the virus does its work,

All the attention is back on the host.

© shaun patrick green 2020

A Plague On Both Your Houses.

A bicameral system?

A plague on both your houses

Canberra has become such

A nest of vipers

That no one leader

Can break free of the morass

Of social media commentary

And make decisions

In the best interest of this country

So we live with knee-jerk policy

And sound-bite diplomacy

While real people lose everything

All turned to ash

And real businesses fail

Suffocated by lack of cash

Future fund and Budget Surplus

Not withstanding

The people of this country

Are demanding

A political system ready to rise

To the challenges

Of Global Warming and Corona Virus

Instead of this paralysed

Top-heavy bureaucracy

Invested in self-interest

And maintaining power

The clock is ticking

Second by second

Hour by hour

While you white-ant each other

Wait for a new leader to be named

Time wasted cannot be regained

A plague on both your houses

© shaun patrick green 2020