Pleasure and Joy in the Uncertainty of Life
It is a shock to realise that I haven’t posted since February last. It seems both my world and the globe in general is in upheaval. Pandemic recovery, climate uncertainty, energy insecurity, not to mention a series of continuing wars across continents, are unnerving. We would all be forgiven for our descent into depression, anxiety and fear for the future. I find that I have to battle the downward trend in order to keep going. I have to keep myself firmly in the “now” and to recognise what is useful around me. Right this minute I am battling my own tech ignorance trying to shape this page. It is a slow trial and error endeavour, but I must keep going, determined to get it up and running. I am grateful for health, and for the level of activism around me working to offset the negatives, at all levels across the human experience. Music has always soothed me and energised me. Over the years art has captured my appreciation, both the gift of the artist and the uplifting of their subjects. So as a return, I thought to point to a wonderful artist, Lavinia Fontana, whose exhibition was held recently in the National Gallery. I loved this piece, particularly for the cheeky sensuality of the piece. It prompted a poem which is also here. Enjoy and send me encouraging feedback, we are all in need of it.
Venus and Mars
Painted by Lavinia Fontana
He has the tanned body of an outdoor warrior,
his open hand clasping her naked left buttock,
Her flesh is tinged a glowing pink
as if the exertion of the tryst traversed
her whole gorgeous skin.
His glint is like a mad stare, searching her face.
Cupid sprawls asleep on the bed behind,
satiated by their passionate outburst.
The purple maroon of the rear drapes
drip with an orgiastic pallor pointing up
the post coital glow of their bodies.
Sex bounces palpably off the canvas.
Peter Clarke
23rd May 2023
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
