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The joys of home
The New Normal
Today is the end of my struggle with an assignment for my Masters at MMU. It’s done and submitted early. More like abandoned into the wilderness of Turnitin. So time on my hands and that feels a bit strange. Of course, I have a list of things to do in this semi-new normal milieu, but I couldn’t resist posting the photo on here which may characterise this new situation for others. Cruel but fun. I wrote this piece a few weeks ago and feel that it is apt to put it up now. So enjoy as always.
A Domestic in a Time of Disaster
The Blue-ray remote has gone missing;
chaos has broken out in the aftermath;
a six and a four-year-old court-martialled
for endangering the lives of the household,
in this time of crisis and confinement.
Emergency services have been deployed;
boxes of Lego upended, cushions scattered.
The dog cowers in the corner terrorised;
no topic allowed to be voiced that offsets
the focus on this catastrophic slip.
Thousands of discs lie helpless on shelves,
useless and worthless without this magic key.
Stormtroopers revisit and repeat the search
among the rubble of toys and games and puzzles.
Those who can retreat, hide in isolation.
Peter Clarke
May 2020
Comments
David McDonough
13.05.2020 09:30
Absolutely brilliant
Margaret Dromey
11.05.2020 16:45
A lovely piece Peter. I can feel the pain! Well done on submitting the project.
Triona Mc Morrow
11.05.2020 16:03
Great photo and poem! There is a great frantic, searching pace to that poem!
Catherine D
11.05.2020 14:01
Ha! Brilliant Peter. I think that many households can relate to this. For us it is the Netflix remote.
Joanne
11.05.2020 13:10
I tend to find in that area of the world (i.e. chez Mum) that remotes find a spot in the freezer, if it helps! 🤣
Latest comments
25.11 | 22:15
Grief is experience through the mundane. Simple but powerful. The accompanying image really compliments the poem.
07.11 | 11:14
Hi Peter,
A great observation! Social media can be a scary place... I also need to reduce my time there
Hugs,
John.x
06.11 | 16:24
A great one, Peter, in the context you describe. I don't read social media myself, I doubt my equilibrium could stand it. 'The balance of his mind disturbed' yes, I think it would be.
06.11 | 15:59
Yes, gossip is a weapon of mass destruction.
In my business as well as personal life I have zero tolerance.
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And What About . . .
I have neglected this for far too long, and now it is time again. But what to write about, what poem to share? The world is packed with catastrophic possibilities. Such choices: dementia/genocide colluder or extreme narcissism in the White House; a hung parliament in the UK; the reunification of the USSR with a tyrannical megalomaniac at its head; the eradication of a race by a genocidal government in Gaza; the African continent reduced to bankruptcy and regression to male tribalism; in Ireland, even with an appalling electoral turnout the routing of the far right and Sinn Féin may offer some comfort except we face another FF/FG fiasco. Mother Nature rumbles on its rampage, raging against the human species’ abject destruction of the planet’s habitat. What the . . .
Being facetious right now is my only defence against absolute despair. So read, comment, pass it on, and send feedback.
City Walking and Cycling take 680,000
cars per day off the road
Irish Time Heading
More and more folk, cycling and walking, may
keep gases from greenhouses further at bay
This newspaper heading illustrates vividly
thousands of cyclists and walkers assiduously
stopping some cars on their journey
pushing them aside - making drivers quite surly
Mountains of metal - like scrapyards of sculpture
keep bicycle lanes quite safe - at this juncture
The new revolution is well underway
don’t get behind wheels - hear what they say:
Cars and their fumes play a very big part
the smell is quite phew don’t mention cow farts
Wear out your shoe leather walking
greet travellers with smiles while you’re talking
Force councils to make better spaces
to go out and about roaming those places
where vitamin D, and oxygen from trees
fill our lungs and our brains so we see
how to save us and this magical planet
except for some vicious old tyrants goddammit
Peter Clarke, 18th March 2024
