an ode to humanity, possibly …..


back in the day
a message was preached
there's no such thing as society
just individuals, only individuals
in pursuit of self-interest
which rooted, grew, flourished
and community crumbled
a little

back in the day
a message was preached
there's no finites, no absolutes
just bubbles of self-defined reality
alternative facts, truths and meaning
with certainty in my diversity
common language failed
a little

back in the day
a message was preached
there's no definable morality
no fixed behavioural norms
you choose yours and I'll do mine
in widening ethical divergence
culture and family withered
a little

back in the day
a message was preached
that in the hierarchy of being
my individual freedom, my rights
trump social responsibility
with licence superseding law
common good decayed
a little

back in the day
a message was whispered
along the corridors of power
copied in the markets, out on the streets
the eleventh commandment rules
'Thou shalt not get caught'
kicked away, foundations fell
significantly

but others say
‘a person is a person only
in relationship with other people’
atomization is not good enough
self-interest will never suffice
‘who is my neighbour’ they ask
so community coheres
a little

others search out
diverse patterns of meaning
evidence of the truths of being
explored by artist’s brush, writer’s pen
lost chord of the universe sought
by scientists and musicians alike
the language of infinity grows
a little

yet others ponder
humanity, this social animal
that despite survival of the fittest
‘it takes a whole village to raise a child’
so I doing me and you doing you
will never be good enough
for we must do us
a little

others wrestle
with those rights of being
of believing and becoming
that we owe ourselves and others
of what we can expect of them
and they can require of us, to
'love mercy, act justly, walk humbly
a little

still others know
that might is not right
ends do not justify means
God’s not on the side of big battalions
that secrets will always out
and lies will never hold
so integrity takes root
a little

in this present day
what hope is asked, dreamed
amidst humanity deconstructing and rebuilding
society disassembling and reconstituting
community disintegrating and reforming
family dismantling and reshaping
for what do we strive
a little


The Eleventh: 4th February 2025
..... Reviewed: 8th February 2025

horizon cuts the sinking sun
colour slow drains from winter sky
by ones and twos, tens and twenties
low over fields, curving round trees
swirling gather, twisting, climbing
as thousands, more, tens of thousands
in intricate aerial ballet
starlings sculpt transient beauty
a function of proximity
speed and distance in soaring flight
form shifts with shapes fantastical
ever changing, unrepeated
until in the twilight gloaming
the murmeration drifts to roost
chattering till in darkness lost

indisputably elected
with his proven track record
according to the courts
of criminality and lies
and clear from his own words
a confessed ****** predator
while evidenced by his deeds
power pursued and abused
yet elected nonetheless
an unchallengable right to act
however illegal for others
by judges made sacrosanct

"we hold these truths to be self-evident
that all men are created equal ....... '
though some more equal than others

'God bless America', a fading hope
America dominated by power, undoubtedly
but at whose expense, the question?

slowly they make their way
to rubble piles they once called home
passing graves marked and unmarked
tens of thousands, numbers mounting
plus those uncounted 'neath the stones

slowly they make their way
those held hostage, long imprisoned
freedom restored and families renewed
past shrines to the dead and missing
hundreds by name and photo known

conflict on hold, maybe
hundred year war and more, on pause
mediation notwithstanding
battle for twice claimed land's too fierce
for hatred's cauldron, what hope peace?

chance that diff'rent vision
might disrupt war's propaganda?
work for peaceful coexistence
disarm ethnic cleansing's purpose
in this unholy Holy Land?

walk down the passageway
journey into darkling gloom
accompanied by names
slowly read, persistent
insistent with each step
another and another
and always one more
a hundred, a thousand
tens of thousands
and still the names roll on
into the dark for days, weeks
turn a corner into the black
enter the glass labyrinth
surrounded by pin-***** lights
by the hundred, by the thousand
by the myriads of thousands
five small flames
reflected and reflecting
and reflected ever more
in remembrance
of the children

a million and a half
shot, starved, gassed, burnt
the diabolical villainy
the evil of the camps
of the planners and designers
of the builders and profiteers
of the guards and politicians
and of those who looked away
and still the names roll on
insistent and persistent
into the dark for days, weeks
a hundred, a thousand
tens of thousands
hundreds of thousands
the children
dead

walk down pathways
into the **** zones
of kibbutz and concert field
to burial grounds and memorials
or between the piles of rubble
once houses and flats
shops and mosques
hospitals and schools
now carrying the stench
of death, the un-buried
beneath shattered concrete
by the hundred, the thousand
though not yet the million
no-one reading their names
no memorial disturbingly peaceful
but still it's the children
their deaths, each death
an evil chosen, consummated
by the planners and strategists
by the zealots and profiteers
by the military and politicians
and by those who look away
the children
always the children
forever the children
dead

holocausts
each and every one
of humanity
of hope

...... pencil stubs left nestling in a box
a record of the stories written
poems crafted
plays conversed
drawings sketched
equations wrestled
reports drafted
ideas mapped out
procrastination doodled
blockages surmounted
graft sweated
the flow
of thought, imagination and paper
taking shape, to fly ......

from top deck of the bus
train's window seat
fleeting glimpses
kaleidoscopic images
a yard, a garden
old and cherished
a beloved motorbike
bonfire smoke, barbecue aroma
discretely hung washing
somewhere to soak up the sun
privately to luxuriate
life's obsolescence stacked high
junk by time abandoned
secret worlds observed
tantalising perspectives
enjoyed with guilty pleasure

while writing in this form demands control
to squeeze ideas within its metric frame
as rhyme and rhythm work to make the whole
concocting words with fiercely burning flame
to touch the heart and so the soul reclaim
from this dour world with all its cant and show
and raise such peace and joy with hope proclaim
so gaining traction transformations flow
that shape afresh to lift above our earthly woe

inspiration's deluge floods the canvas
rivulets, eddies, broad flowing streams
swirling in and around form and detail
lazily drifting here, urgently hastening there
colours intricate, complex and intriguing
capture light of place, moment or people
through paint and brush stroke flowing
a creative passion worked and re-worked
searching, striving for imagination's whole
done: persistently the river meanders on
illuminates responsive minds and spirits all

hammering home the nail
hand-picked or bequeathed
which picture to hang?
to set aside, let go?

and of those books
well thumbed and worn
which takes its place
in straitened space?

at the changing of the guard
what fails to make the cut?
cherished yet not enough
treasured but relinquished

'I am whom I will be'
the account God gave of himself
or so it was reported

we tried to follow the example

'I farm therefore I am'
though often the crops failed

'I build therefore I am'
but not long and edifices crumbled

'I conquor therefore I am'
yet kingdoms tumbled, empires fell

'I trade therefore I am'
until the next crash and bankruptcy

'I do religion therefore I am'
still God refuses to fit the boxes I make

'I think therefore I am'
but my best thoughts are inadequate

'I study science therefore I am'
though creation remains beyond my fathoming

'I make music therefore I am'
searching still for that eternal lost chord

'I do politics therefore I am'
yet the people won't accept what's good for them

'I create art therefore I am'
reaching always for something beyond

'I do war therefore I am'
but wars to end all wars never have

'I have acted boldly therefore I am'
never entirely certain what I was aiming for

'I shop therefore I  am'
to take my mind of what I can't achieve

'I surf the internet therefore I am'
though it's only as good as what's uploaded

'I travel therefore I am'
meeting folk who no more know themselves than I

'I take selfies therefore I am'
while I may not accomplish anything
I've a great picture of me doing it

'I am whom I will be'
to become, dare I risk encounter the 'I am'?

celebrations in the street
the possibility of one small step
in the vague direction
well not of peace
but of ending the hot war
of the active shooting
the bombs, the missiles
the utter destruction
and holding of hostages
a ceasefire

....... maybe

maybe if what's been agreed holds
maybe if the killing stops
if the hostages are released
if the soldiers pull out
if the obliteration ends
if there is security from attack
if there is land justice
if rebuilding can begin
if there is hope for a different future
if ........

but so much has been destroyed
so many lives lost
so much land stolen
in over one hundred years of conflict
seventy-five years of war
ebbing and flowing through the decades
so many still dreaming of ethnic cleansing
politicking and fighting to make it happen

....... maybe a ceasefire
but peace? don't hold your breath

'Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."'
(from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)


never mind the White Queen
said the grinning president
those billionaires whispering in his ear
as he signed more executive orders
while falling down the rabbit-hole
the world has never seen
how many impossible things
I can order before breakfast
it'll be beautiful, fantastic
no one's imagined what I can do

..... so don't worry about the convictions
being a self-confessed ****** predator
those lies, alternative facts and truths
they make me who the people love
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I don't need any government
to tell me what I can't do
sack them all, they're bad, all bad
I don't need evidence I just know
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and don't worry about Congress
the rioters got it right
but now they're mine, I own them
why wouldn't they want me?

..... and the Supreme Court
my placemen and women
they say nothing I can do is illegal
the divine right of kings
why wouldn't they want me?

..... and forget the Constitution
only two terms of office
I can remake it in my image
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I've got God sorted
told him he's on my team
on the side of the big battalions
that might is indeed right
the end does justify the means
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I can take over Greenland
Panama and Canada
make them American states
citizens to salute the flag
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I can do a great real estate deal
transform the Middle East
Mar-a-Gaza will be a great resort
what's wrong with ethnic cleansing
it's only a couple of million people
send in the bulldozers let's get started
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I've torn up all those Treaties
countries need to get on board
do things my way, the American way
or they'll get what's coming to them
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and those wars, terrible
they'd better stop when I say
or all hell will break loose
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I'll shut down trade
unless they do it on my terms
let America dominate the world
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I'll kick out the foreigners
round them up, send them home
(except those my companies need)
build the walls higher, deeper, wider
why wouldn't they want me?

...... and I'll ...... hell I'm the President
I can do anything I want
six impossible things before breakfast?
I'll  make America great again
re-make it as Trumpland, Mar-A-merica
I've barely got started
let's do the deal
it'll be beautiful, fantastic
why wouldn't they want me?

12th February 2025

lies, **** lies and statistics
they used to say ...... but

now it's lies, **** lies, president and his cronies
social media barons and propaganda
alternative truths normalised

trust lies on its death-bed
poisoned
sacrificed for power

alternatively ........

predator watching, waiting
yet statuary stillness
belies instant readiness
the moment to strike
action, a blue-orange flash
with beauty, death's killer splash
'ere serenity resting

we hold these truths to be self-evident
that only some men are created equal
and that they are endowed
by this Trump administration
with certain alienable rights
that only a few will enjoy life
liberty and the pursuit of happiness
among whom are MAGA supporters
tech billionaires, international dictators
and those who believe might is right

democrats, supporters of the rule of law
those working for equality in diversity
Mexicans, Canadians and Panamanians
Greenlanders and Palestinians
and ..... and ..... and ..... need not apply

"blessed are the peacemakers"
said a wandering teacher
not merely the peace-hopers
peace-wishers or peace-dreamers
"love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you"
was more of his teaching too

a much diff'rent train of thought
from that of the Colt salesman
"precision, accuracy
balanced and reliable
it's 'the gun that won the west'"
Peacemaker, alternate kind
your choice, your consequences

keeping the tally
those lives cut short, expunged
broken beyond any mending
the minds, bodies, spirits
buried beneath collapsed concrete
never to be found
on all the sides
of all the conflicts
of all the wars
of all the exploitations
of all the degradations
of all the depredations
humanity's self-evisceration
extincting species
decimating nature

who's counting

the tally
those lives made possible, birthed
createded and nurtured
restored beyond brokenness
the minds, bodies, spirits
breaking through the weight of concrete
finding the light, the air, the rain
co-operatively seeking
respite from the wars
reconciling the conflicts
releasing from exploitation
rising above the degradation
repairing the depredations
a renewing of humanity
one among the species
balanced in nature

who's counting
doing the eternal calculus
determining what's to be inscribed
as humanity's epitaph
of my contribution to it

galaxies whirling passed infinitude
visions of history, stars birthing or long dead

a mere four and a half billion years
orbiting some star nondescript

tectonic interplay shapes by increment
mountain and valley, atmosphere and ocean

while locked in rocks of geological time
fearsome jaws, bone-crushing teeth

yet predating dinosaurs most ancient
a cockroach scuttles across the floor

as hurricane's waltz, El Niño's pavane
wrap energy in wind and weather

the whole panoply of life, blue whale to virus
develops, adapts, evolves till new

so journeys **** sapiens two million years
stone tools to annihilation's potential

what is humankind that you are mindful of them
human beings that for them you care?

when humanity has carved its epitaph
what next for the cockroach planet?

they've taken their land
or at least most of it
their homes and farms
businesses and communities
they control their water
their borders, their rights
deemed them a non-people
they aren't Palestinian, they say
and Palestine is not their home
never has been, not legitimately
so say their usurpers
hiding behind their legal fictions
with judicial expropriation
and apartheid-like laws
waging their hundred year war
of slow, steady ethnic cleansing
following the Joshua model
the curse of destruction
by armed settler land grabs
bomb and armoured bulldozer
supported, encouraged and funded
by allies across the world

ignored are the peacemakers
foundering are reconcilers' hopes
parched, those who hunger
and thirst for saving justice
shredded by propaganda
bombed into submission
swamped by a sea of indifference
the wrong side of history
politically dispensable, disposable
it's open season ........

if Trump has abolished diversity
by presidential decree
has he abolished himself
his alternative truths and facts
or just other's diversity?

I love those irregular verbs
of the English language:

I'm a unique individual
You're a little bit weird
He's a total wacko

they stood at the graveside
icy February winds
sleet near horizontal
wrapped tight against the cold
feet sinking slowly in the mud
sad for the dearly departed
truly heart-broken
but mostly thinking of the pub
a roaring fire, a glass of .....
and getting warm again, please

a particularly viscious blast
the vicar's glasses fly
bouncing off the coffin
splashing in the mud
six feet under
he carries on trying hard
to remember the words
he stumbles to a halt
looks up, around
trying to focus on blurry faces
raises his hand in blessing
'for what we're about to receive ......'

10th February 2025

so many ideas about god
different races, different peoples
each with their own ideas
cultural, national, universal
mono or polytheistic
worship of the planet
of characteristics thereof
or human rationality
ourselves in the place of god

so many resolving
into what justifies my thought
my wishes and actions
what I do and fail to do
me, my people, my race, my nation
so many supporting
us rather than them
the elect against the outsider
our people not the foreigner
and when push comes to shove
those conflicts and wars
that such divisions always bring
the gods back me not you
they're on the side of my battalions
my ends justifying the means
my might always being right
or so my take on the gods tell me

so what is the power and purpose of god?
what difference does he/she/they make?
why this god not that god or any god at all?

perhaps we need god
recognising our faults and failings
the limits to understanding and wisdom
a universe so far beyond comprehension
our finite and limited thinking
facing questions beyond discovery
perhaps we need the awkward questions
god keeps disconcertingly asking
how we justify what we do
our use and abuse of power
the way we do relationships
from home, to work, to nations, to religion?

there was a backwoods preacher
who held up a mirror before us
our being and doings
our actions and inactions
'love the Lord your God
with all your heart, mind, soul and strength'
it's easy to say we do
that we accept external scrutiny
but the evidence says otherwise
then he stretched our thinking
'love your neighbour as yourself'
reminding us our neighbours
include those we think of as enemies
or consider us the same
so he said 'love your enemy
and pray for those who persecute you'
and persecute you they will
for the powerful hate nothing more
mark out as their enemy
than those revealing their power
abused in contrast to such love
so 'love as I have loved you'
sacrificially, self-giving, unbounded
by time, space or circumstance
not theoretically but actively
'to love mercy, act justly
and walk humbly with your God'
and when we get it wrong
or they get it wong
for we all always get it wrong
'forgive our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us'

of course he didn't last
for those with power didn't like
the mirror he faced us with
so we had him killed, crucified
far easier to smash the mirror
than to change, transform
get rid of the nuisance
so we can get on with business
carry on as normal
with a warning left hanging there
for others with jumped up ideas
job done, so we said, so we thought .....

14th February 2025
Stephen Cooper