Antenna

Antenna

Wednesday 19 August 2020

AGE OF CHAOS

A destructive wave of sameness sweeps everything in its path
Cloned Identikit houses, streets and developments
Country fields become shiny solar mirrors 
Groaning wind turbines stride along resentful ridges
Flood, storm and drought puzzle farmers and gardeners
We wonder where the bees, birds and butterflies have gone
Wherever something is wrong it is too big
A toxic alternative seduces those who have lost a sense of pride and belonging
The powerless and disenfranchised lob a bomb into the living room of their baffled masters
Exhausted dark-skinned people in flimsy dinghies wash up on our shores
They explain that they are here because we were there
Statues topple into the harbour to remind us that all lives matter
So many of us can't breathe
A plague has killed off many of our old folk and some of our young folk too
Shares in disposable plastic are at an all-time high
Shares in actors, singers and publicans are at an all-time low
Ministers are rewarded for their incompetence or having rich friends
They cry grade inflation as teenagers are punished for their hard work
None of the academic lenses seem to make sense of all this
We have lost perspective
Neither left nor right can protect what we love
Teenagers are depressed
Mums and dads are alienated
Grandparents are lonely
Nothing is sacred any more
God has fled
We cast around looking for someone or something to blame
China? Russia? Johnson? Trump?
As we mourn what we have lost