Best Remembered

You must take advantage,
Of your advantages,
With a heart pure and intentions benign,
With a mind naiveless,

Prepared to defend each of your actions,
As well thought-out and kind,
Without the casualties of those with less,
Being inexcusably left behind,

So when you have outused the benefits,
You did not work to get,
Those alongside you can now lift you up,
For they will not forget,

That in this world,
Nothing is guaranteed,
Here today, gone tomorrow is easy,
Best remembered as someone without greed.

The Middle Road

There is small comfort,
Well, maybe great relief,
That though I'm not drowning in money,
I've no dark history,

Like my family didn't own a farm,
Worked by desp'rate migrants,
Picking olives destined for haute markets.
Would my wealth be comfort for my conscience,

Or would I just think that's the way things are,
It's better them than me,
Or that I've some right to my privilege,
From geneology?

Sometimes I think,
Not being rich or poor,
Affords me peace of not having to ask,
Which grates on my concience a little more.

Keep Safe and Quiet

Int'rest rates are rising,
For normal working folks,
Forget the super rich or businesses,
Or those that are just poor,

The latter will soon have more company,
The former have more cash,
Just in time for Trump to be in again,
Because his crimes really aren't that bad,

Or rather they are really not unique,
Among the ruling class,
If tax fraud was a jailable offense,
Jail'd become the White House,

But we are blessed,
For the state which we're found,
Is like a bubble within a bubble,
Keeping us safe from uncomfortable sounds.

This Will Get You Down

What can I really say?
The sadness is so deep,
It's not about wanting things I don't have,
It's not getting to keep.

The oceans could swallow us up today,
Or a meteorite,
Bombs falling from the sky from miles away,
Have I been sounding down lately? I might,

Economy's always been tenuous,
So has democracy,
Not that either has ever existed,
As far as I can see.

Ok, I'm done,
No, I mean writing this,
It's only because it is my birthday,
That I am feeling such an optimist.

For What It's Worth

What you do in one day,
Isn't what you have done,
The months and years that pass before you know,
Is life's true conundrum,

It's not any one thing that flies it by,
Like kids or a sickness,
Time's such an incomprehensible thing,
Most find forgetting it the easiest,

Until you're lucky to get to the end,
So you can look back on,
The cumulation of your successes,
And all that you have done,

You lucky now?
Let's tally up the stats,
Pretend we're taking our very last breath,
While we weigh the worth of our lifetime's acts.

Sick In Bed

The world can change so fast,
I don't mean globally,
Whether your talking war, famine, climate,
It's all the same to me,

But check your perception of all of them,
From yesterday to now,
If you're honest and take stock of your thoughts,
You'll find you're a different person, somehow,

Because your attention's constantly pulled,
This is no new secret,
How else did humankind get where it's now,
With no curious bit?

But here's the thing,
They don't tell you at birth,
At some point you will be on your death bed,
Then only you can you guage what your life's worth.

What's The Big Deal?

What is the argument,
Against mass shooting sprees,
Where it is everyone's right to bear guns,
Even if you're fifteen,

Leaving a population wondering,
If when they wake that day,
Whether a random man will shoot them dead,
Because they happen to walk the same way,

Building a stronger nation armed with fear,
Ready for anything,
Pumped up because vi'lence is the answer,
First and everslasting?

Can't think of one,
Don't like it, you can leave,
That is, of course, if you can afford it,
Then buy a house protected by police.

Circumventing the Thoughtful

Finland's safe from fake news,
Not because it's not there,
Not because dissenting voices are jailed,
Or the government scares,

The defence against misinformation,
Is in the public schools,
Generations taught to critic'lly think,
So that they grow to be nobody's fool,

They learn to take in any media,
With a discerning eye,
Ask questions unveiling what's true and not,
So reveal what is lies.

Sounds dangerous?
Maybe, or maybe not,
It might mean the cabal works diff'rently,
To manipulate things for what it wants.

Flipping Time On Its Head

I've been thinking 'bout time,
So, no time for writing,
Did you know the thing changes each moment,
Each moment you're thinking?

Like, it's a diff'rent thing altogether,
Even Fletcher says so,
'bout people, in the book Fletch's Moxie,
Reminding me what I already know,

Which means this Wath has changed from the start, too,
Just like all the others,
What I meant to say's not the same as now,
As my final answer,

To what, you ask,
Let's go back to the start,
You can't plan for an end that's yet to come,
The horse has always been pushing the cart.

Nord Stream 2 Is Leaking

You maybe are asking,
Why Nord Stream is leaking,
One might argue that it doesn't matter.
The damage it's wreaking,

Adding to the climate catastrophe,
While throwing DARTs at rocks,
Greenhouse gasses are bubbling from the sea,
Nobody thinks that it's not sabotage,

Nuland of the U.S. already said,
If Russia 'ttacks Ukraine,
In Jan, "Nord Stream 2 will not move forward."
Am I sounding insane?

It don't matter,
Nothing changes a thing,
Despite claims to care about the climate,
The U.S. will e'er put first conquering.

All The Best

As storms land in Cuba,
Florida, Philippines,
Puerto Rico, Atlantic Canada,
And all spots in between,

Russia's annexing Ukrain'an regions,
It'ly's fascist, again,
The U.S. stirring the pot in China,
U.K. embassy moves to Jerus'lem,

Corporations have led for far too long,
Profit over people,
Only works until conditions for them,
Become beyond feeble,

Then it's too late,
Like bandaids on cancer,
We created our own worst enemies,
I hope that they treat themselves much better.

Don't Be Scared

You don't have to be scared,
Though, you probably should,
It's hard to believe you can effect change,
Cozy in a falsehood,

That you'll be protected no matter what,
Ask any homeless folk,
If when they had their first thought as babies,
They imagined they'd grow up to be broke.

Instead they had something that we call hope,
A vague expectation,
That fortune's not controlled by anything,
But self-motivation.

That is a lie,
Fortune's a made up haze,
Dependant on the unfortunate ones,
Convinced the world's naturally this way.

Not As Bad As Some

I look out my window,
See the fence around me,
Owned by someone else I pay for the right,,
To call it 'property',

For what was a high price ten years ago,
Now's basically a steal,
Until he decides he'd like his fence back,
Then there's nowhere in this town I could deal,

But this is not just where my house is found,
It is also my home,
I'm tied to it by offspring living here,
Not facts you need to know,

It's not so bad,
I'm not living through drought,
Persecuted, or under oppression,
With freedom to decide my own way out.

What Else Is There To Talk About?

I am Canadian,
That is where I was born,
So why do I focus so much outside?
We are not virtue porn,

Once a colony of the great U.K.,
Yes, France, you had some, too,
Indigenous peoples often cheated,
To give a horrid history nice hues,

The world's longest unprotected border,
Shared with the U.S.,
Like leaving the door unlocked in good faith,
In truth, under duress,

For, whatya think,
If they need anything,
From our house, do you think that they will knock,
When, really, they don't even need the key?

The Circle Will Remain Unbroken

Should we really worry,
'Bout the U.S. next move,
As if they orchestrate global events,
With no onus to prove?

Sure, it still arms armies around the world,
For its own agenda,
Has the most billionaires than anyone-
Though a close second is pesky China,

But every bully's surrounded by those,
Who want to bring them down,
Who then, most likely, become bullies, too,
Then begins a new round,

Of what they'll do,
Until they're unsat, too,
Meanwhile the system that allows them both,
Continues, despite who's bullying you.

Not Far From Falling

I am not saying much,
That's not been said before,
By observers sitting in soft armchairs,
While earth sits in horror,

Commentating not from a lofty place,
For I'm not far removed,
From the migrant running from violence,
Because I have one, but don't own my roof,

The first domino that falls won't hit me,
In truth, it's ere fallen,
The safety net was not woven so tight,
That all needy fall in,

But come a storm,
That tests savings I'd need,
To protect me when the government can't,
I'll light this armchair for fuel, tout suite.

The Climate Revolution

Oh, and on rev'lution,
There is hypocracy,
Industrial, Digital, Internet,
Our human legacy,

No one denies while we live in the times,
"Well, this ain't our doing",
(As long as we can distance ourselves from,
The nasty adjunct things).

Yet, here we are living through another,
Undeniable truth,
Catastrophes born of revolutions,
Passed on to the next youths.

Since there's no good,
Had from this last great feat,
All's left is for us to distance ourselves,
Though it's hard to get away from this heat.

The Same Old Song

Are two forces meeting?
It can't be that simple,
Like every fantasy book ever wrote,
Of good fighting evil,

On one side those who want to save the world,
By fighting for climate,
Protection for workers and refugees,
Denouncing war, calling for human rights,

Then there are those who want to save themselves,
Consequences be damned,
They're either rich or been trounced on too long,
To see past their own end.

Then there is me,
(Speaking for everyone),
Feeling I can go nowhere, left or right,
Desparately wanting a revolution.

A Day In The Life

I went to the kitchen,
I opened up the fridge,
Sifted through the fresh food and leftovers,
Took my time as I did,

Turned on the stove and warmed up what I chose,
Listening to the news,
Energy crises in much of the world,
Blamed on greedy oligarchs by some views,

When I'm done I run the tap, 'til it's hot,
So much goes down the drain,
While people scramble over muddy pits,
Facing months of no rain,

And I am poor,
At least by some measures,
To keep me in my place and wish for more,
So I don't think of universal cures.

The Importance of Satire

Sometimes just to stay sane,
I go to The Onion,
Learn things about news that don't come out,
Without great sarcasm,

Like precise fermentation is nowhere,
Even though it should be,
Promoted by Monbiot as a cure,
For the world's reliance on processed meat,

But that is too real for any satire,
Or legitimate news,
Not conspiracy, but reality,
We are structured to lose,

This world to cash,
Which, in turn equals greed,
Just like Oxford Bags showed six years ago,
The only cause of human change is need.