I read the News today

[Piscator]

Five Hundred Rounds

Five hundred rounds of ammunition
bound for President’s inauguration
shots will echo through the nation
and no this ain’t just imagination
there’s going to be a conflagration.

 

[Piscator]

Two Hundred and fifteen

Not really a big number. less than half the number
of coppers needed to buy a Big Mac without fries.

But uncovering the remains of 215 copper children
at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, run by
the Catholic Oblates of Mary Immaculate Order
staggered my mind. Then I realized this was one of
hundreds of schools, and when you do the math,
thousands of children have died under our “care.”

Forget the fries, much more than an apology is needed

 

[29wordsforsnow]

...where are their names?

The echoes of the past still run on
and wash away futures and generations
like they soaked the grounds with stories
and no happy, no heard, only hard ends
starting in so many close far-away places

 

[29wordsforsnow]

The weekends are the worst

I'm weary of roses
crying their petals
onto the soil of memory

Some minutes passed
and another bang echoes
in fifty and one corner

Each round that could
be a life-saving shot
in a virus-sieged spot

Tired of roses dying

 

[butters]

Two Hundred and fifteen

Not really a big number. less than half the number
of coppers needed to buy a Big Mac without fries.

But uncovering the remains of 215 copper children
at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, run by
the Catholic Oblates of Mary Immaculate Order
staggered my mind. Then I realized this was one of
hundreds of schools, and when you do the math,
thousands of children have died under our “care.”

Forget the fries, much more than an apology is needed

thankyou for the link, P... i'd not read about this. sadly, it hardly surprises me even as it saddens me.

just a thought: do you need 'copper' that second time? to my reading, the colour carries through to link with the indigenous children effectively as it stands, particularly as it's reinforced by the follow-up line.

aside from that one query, i deeply appreciate this piece of yours and all it alludes to.

 

[butters]

further reading on Piscator's poem

at least 600 unmarked graves
https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2021/06/24/report-751-bodies-found-indigenous-school-canada/

 

[29wordsforsnow]

in a stack of maple leaves
they found rocks and roots
a tree has grown up from
once a cotyledon in the grass
​

 

[Piscator]

Thanks butters and 29 words. We've been through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and although the report stated that thousands of children were lost to the system it is only now that the bodies are being confirmed. The Truth is hard, real Reconciliation will be even harder.

 

[todski28]

Thanks butters and 29 words. We've been through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and although the report stated that thousands of children were lost to the system it is only now that the bodies are being confirmed. The Truth is hard, real Reconciliation will be even harder.

How do you reconcile that?

and sometimes it's easy to look at some of this as ancient History and something not relevant to today even though it's horrifying.... then you read the article, and some of this may have still been occurring in 1970....meaning survivors are likely still alive today that could testify and attest to what occurred.

I'm a lot more ambivalent to guilt by association from past wrongs, but 50 years is only a generation removed from myself, i.e my mother is 55...

it kind of smacks some perspective on this shit.

 

[Piscator]

How do you reconcile that?

and sometimes it's easy to look at some of this as ancient History and something not relevant to today even though it's horrifying.... then you read the article, and some of this may have still been occurring in 1970....meaning survivors are likely still alive today that could testify and attest to what occurred.

I'm a lot more ambivalent to guilt by association from past wrongs, but 50 years is only a generation removed from myself, i.e my mother is 55...

it kind of smacks some perspective on this shit.

I honestly don't know if we can fully reconcile. As a start, we need to acknowledge over a hundred years of genocide and address systemic racism in government, policing and our daily lives.

As a water guy in s country with abundant clean water, it is criminal that many First Nations are on almost permanent water advisories. Further,we need to address the lands we have taken and return sufficient lands and other treaty rights such as the right to maintain a reasonable lifestyle from fishing and facilitate rather than restrict their business opportunities in more than a token fashion.

 

[todski28]

I honestly don't know if we can fully reconcile. As a start, we need to acknowledge over a hundred years of genocide and address systemic racism in government, policing and our daily lives.

As a water guy in s country with abundant clean water, it is criminal that many First Nations are on almost permanent water advisories. Further,we need to address the lands we have taken and return sufficient lands and other treaty rights such as the right to maintain a reasonable lifestyle from fishing and facilitate rather than restrict their business opportunities in more than a token fashion.

That sounds all progressive and in the right spirit but handing back land is an interesting concepts but do you really think going, here have some land, revert back to what you were before we got here, is actually going to help? Land, infrastructure, business is not so easy a thing to run and manage without the right mentors, unless you’re a government entity that physically can’t fail because taxation of the masses is propping you up

 

[rackofdawn]

I totally agree.

I wish I could melt all of the crap I’ve ingested over the last 2 years and start again life’s easier when you’re living it not viewing it through adversarial us vs them mentalities where the attribution of the worst possible conclusion is projected onto the person you’re supposed to be talking to.

I can’t write anything anymore with out a jab at identity politics or my interpretation of it, I see used to be able to look at poetry and see the beauty of it now all I see is the politicizational messaging and possible adversarial positioning. I used to be able to read something or watch something and not see other hidden meanings or possibly my brain produces cognitive bias toward what I’m reading, I can understand why people embedded in full blown feminism and those fighting political battles are so angry all the time. It’s completely exhausting

By the way how are you going stranger?

Just had to post a comment on this. I totally agree. It really has become sickening. People really can't cope with the concept that people see things from different viewpoints. If a person disagrees then they are slammed with mindless insults and name calling. It is like junior high school level of maturity. Only they are in control of so much of the world. The inmates are running the asylum. I don't like to be negative but I see storm clouds building and I don't think the short-term future looks very good.

 

[butters]

That sounds all progressive and in the right spirit but handing back land is an interesting concepts but do you really think going, here have some land, revert back to what you were before we got here, is actually going to help? Land, infrastructure, business is not so easy a thing to run and manage without the right mentors unless you’re a government entity that physically can’t fail because taxation of the masses is propping you up

there are educated indigenous people, the majority of those living off-reserve, quite able to work with others in the fields of economics, business, science, politics... it's about making the playing field even and making sure indigenous peoples have the same rights, opportunities, access to healthcare, education, clean water, affordable housing etc..., as anyone else. It's not an option to simply sit back and say "oh well, nothing we can really do about it and inconceivable that those WITH all the benefits of regular living should be content to see indigenous populations endure the arse-end of society's environmental (etc...,) decisions just so some fuckwit can keep getting richer by shitting on them. The excerpt below shows it's taken 20 years to halve graduation rates, but that's due to a lack of financial input (see the agreed treaty and how it was dismantled in 2015). The more education from secondary through to university/college can be supported, the better for a country since those same graduates will go on to work better paid jobs, pay more taxes, and promote the economy of their country.

In 2001, B.C. had a 39-percentage-point gap between the graduation rates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Over the past two decades, however, Indigenous graduation rates have surged. The graduation gap, though still too large, has been more than halved.

Most Indigenous Canadians live off-reserve and in cities, which in theory gives them a shot at the same educational opportunities as everyone else. On reserve, however, too many schools are in bad shape, lacking basics such as functioning libraries, science labs and gyms. The Assembly of First Nations and the Harper government struck a deal for better funding and standards but the effort fell apart in 2015. The following year, the Liberals committed $1-billion.

Beyond high school, supporting Indigenous teenagers into and through postsecondary education is key. Fewer than one in 10 Indigenous Canadians have a bachelor’s degree. For all Canadians, regardless of race, there are economic disparities between those with more education, and those with less. Indigenous Canadians are not immune to this trend: The median income of First Nations adults working with a university degree is about $70,000, compared with about $40,000 for those working with high-school diplomas.

The challenges in Indigenous education are big but progress is possible, and it’s happening. The goal, in a June not far in the future, is for Indigenous teens to finish high school, and go on to more education and life-long success, at the same rate as all other Canadians.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opi...ns-than-ever-are-graduating-from-high-school/

 

[todski28]

there are educated indigenous people, the majority of those living off-reserve, quite able to work with others in the fields of economics, business, science, politics... it's about making the playing field even and making sure indigenous peoples have the same rights, opportunities, access to healthcare, education, clean water, affordable housing etc..., as anyone else. It's not an option to simply sit back and say "oh well, nothing we can really do about it and inconceivable that those WITH all the benefits of regular living should be content to see indigenous populations endure the arse-end of society's environmental (etc...,) decisions just so some fuckwit can keep getting richer by shitting on them. The excerpt below shows it's taken 20 years to halve graduation rates, but that's due to a lack of financial input (see the agreed treaty and how it was dismantled in 2015). The more education from secondary through to university/college can be supported, the better for a country since those same graduates will go on to work better paid jobs, pay more taxes, and promote the economy of their country.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opi...ns-than-ever-are-graduating-from-high-school/

Oh well nothing we can do isn’t my standpoint either, I’m confused about both sides of the argument because both have merit,

I grew up dirt poor and in as hellacious a set of conditions as most of those that live in poverty and I was lucky my mother was stronger mentally than any person I’ve ever met in my life, I have been lucky most of my life and smart enough to be able to grab opportunities when they were presented to me, however most of my immediate family are third generation social security recipients and products of financial aide for silly decision making. So somewhere I made it out and they all got stuck, and a lot of it was luck and meeting the right people at the right time.

I guess trying to level opportunity is a kin to equalising luck and access to the right people, however the right people for me were not found in school or education, I had a drug induced break down at 16 and failed school. After I recovered and got clean I had a drive to succeed that was greater than most people I’ve met, so I don’t know how granting land and benefits will do more than make people reliant on those benefits as opposed to earning them. I had to approach 15 banks and write 6 business plans over 6months to be able to get the loan I needed to get my business up and running... none of it was handed to me if that makes any sense?

I’m coming at this trying to reason from my standpoint epistemology

 

[todski28]

Just had to post a comment on this. I totally agree. It really has become sickening. People really can't cope with the concept that people see things from different viewpoints. If a person disagrees then they are slammed with mindless insults and name calling. It is like junior high school level of maturity. Only they are in control of so much of the world. The inmates are running the asylum. I don't like to be negative but I see storm clouds building and I don't think the short-term future looks very good.

To be fair I’m not sure what you mean here, the POBO generally is A-Political because politics and these discussion of us vs them tend to break down into tribalistic pissing contests and poetry, at least poetry here is less often political.

I’m trying to have a discussion on something I think is abhorrent yet have no idea how to fix, mindless insults and name calling is by the by for me. But all in all I think I’m going to go back to poeming and leave the politics for people who are more invested in it.

 

[Winter_Fare]

Just a tickle... Political

Back in 2015 before covid burst on the scene
Our prime minister was priministerial
The branflakes of breakfast cereal
Uptight
Straight laced
Til he misplaced
A bribe
Or a word on the side
Who knows
And piggiegate
Landed on his plate
Like a two foot sausage
Twenty years out of date
Still he clung on
Like a whore's strap on
So he could fuck the poor
A little while longer
Til Theresa May
Made a play for his pay.

I thought things couldn't get much worse
But Uno Reverse
Now we have Boris
The slack jawed toff
Professional part time fucker off
Of EU red tape
Who sleeps through the rape
Of our health service
I'd have more respect if he'd blown £14 billion
On whores and blow

Instead he insists he DID NOT KNOW
That the party in his garden was a garden party

And for the money he's nothing to show
But a waste of plastic his donors "sold" him

The cats on the table:
Her majesty weeping a widow
Anaesthetists sleeping on floors
Anarchists glued to doors
Children in boats with nowhere to go

And no way do I believe for a minute
That Boris does not have his fingers in it
Up to the elbows in donors and cash
God I miss piggiegate ...
Now I'm off to get smashed

Mood

 

[Youroldscotsman]

Back in 2015 before covid burst on the scene
Our prime minister was priministerial
The branflakes of breakfast cereal
Uptight
Straight laced
Til he misplaced
A bribe
Or a word on the side
Who knows
And piggiegate
Landed on his plate
Like a two foot sausage
Twenty years out of date
Still he clung on
Like a whore's strap on
So he could fuck the poor
A little while longer
Til Theresa May
Made a play for his pay.

I thought things couldn't get much worse
But Uno Reverse
Now we have Boris
The slack jawed toff
Professional part time fucker off
Of EU red tape
Who sleeps through the rape
Of our health service
I'd have more respect if he'd blown £14 billion
On whores and blow

Instead he insists he DID NOT KNOW
That the party in his garden was a garden party

And for the money he's nothing to show
But a waste of plastic his donors "sold" him

The cats on the table:
Her majesty weeping a widow
Anaesthetists sleeping on floors
Anarchists glued to doors
Children in boats with nowhere to go

And no way do I believe for a minute
That Boris does not have his fingers in it
Up to the elbows in donors and cash
God I miss piggiegate ...
Now I'm off to get smashed

Mood

*Like*

 

[Winter_Fare]

Divided down the perforations
Left leaves Right
East leaves West
Divide the spoils
And fuck the rest
Divided down the generations
Doomed to repeat
We failed the test
NATO China Russia same old song
Hypocrites no right or wrong
Last hope sinking no wrong no right
Rare earth metals burn so bright
Last one out turn out the light

 

[Piscator]

Yesterday or was it the day before
yesterday? I held my breath hoping
against hope that what was about
to happen, wouldn't happen but it
did happen.

Now I must breathe, in - out, as tears
stream from my eyes for a nation which
has suffered so much for being in the
middle must suffer again.

 

[Winter_Fare]

Well folks tomorrow is ash Wednesday
And I'm praying for the first time in years
For the darkest of intentions

He could choke to death on a
Electrocute himself on his
Trip over his bodyguard on the way to
Look in the mirror and start a fight
With his own ego
Maybe his chinplant will go for a wander
Into some vital artery while he's
Maybe stub his toe and get gangrene

Swallow his lying tongue while drinking
Pop too many one Friday night
And die balls deep in a

Maybe all he wants is £
Maybe the nuclear are a bluff
Sometimes love and light are not enough?
But light a fucking candle all the same

Save the children appeal

 

[Piscator]

How low can we go?

Freezing rain always leaves me cold
and the news from the Ukraine,
really ain't news anymore
as it's always bad and
well past the seven
day threshold.

And hey, Survivor - Season 42
airs the day after
tomorrow, and
Metta Sandiford-Artest,
formerly Metta World Peace
formerly Ron Artest, who
played with the Lakers
when they were good
is a contestant.

 

[29wordsforsnow]

We're running up that hill
to find ourselves
in the strange thing called past
and no one yet knew
how long tomorrow would last
when it ends on the shelves
we're putting our will

--
Kate Bush - yep, the one with the '50 words for snow' song - has made it back to the top of the UK charts, breaking a few records on the way, yay!

 

[29wordsforsnow]

seventy-seven tall and
fragile stelae rose for the fallen
to remind the day on Utøya
where the once devised Utopia
of all of them grown up holding hand
with the next generation on the carefree island
and no parents need to count their dead
and plead please stop the war inside your head
broke eleven years ago

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

In Spite of it All

Flickering in today’s dark news
of crimes, car bombs,
sputtering peace talks and
political buffoonery was
a faint and persistent light,
a small and hopeful miracle.

A marvel in itself, the monarch,
her black and gold undervalued
to near extinction, is surviving
against all odds.

In the effort to control our
surroundings we destroyed
her food supply so, after
the long migration from
Mexican mountains,
begun by her grandparents,
she starves at a time
when the next generation
need sustenance.

Just in time milkweed plants
are nurtured. The flight path
smoothed in simple ways
and it seems to be working,
it was on the news.