M.C. Newberry,

Some may agree this subject, 'Color Matters'
is infuriating, frustrating and downright annoying.
These experiences are not ouchies, that first appear
in the body. These grouped emotions start up stairs
and may cause headaches and body maladies.

I hear you loud and clear!
White Black Pink Ochre
Rough Dry Baggy Firm
skins don't matter to me,
and it's not about skin tone.
My tone is paper bag brown.
What do you name yours?

It's about generations of families
severed from their rich cultures,
deprived of their native languages,
and given Jesus Christ to worship.
400 years later we watch Wakanda
and munch on hot buttered popcorn.

It's about Native American Indians. STOP!
Think about that. They certainly are natives.
American because of Mr. Vespucius.
Indian because of a geographical error.
90% of them were killed purposefully,
some not, by folks wanting to own land.

Physical, emotional and spiritual abuse
starvation deprivation and outright murder
may have long lasting affects (or is it effects),
on someone's outcome. What do you think?

It's about feeling it in my bones,
not just reading or thinking about it.

'Color Matters' is not just about Indians and cowboys
and Crayola hues. It is about Black and White though.
This is North America, where one(1) drop of African blood makes you black. You ever hear such nonsense where you live? We won't find this law on current books, but it lives on, in the heads of some here in the U.S of A.

M.C. Newberry, I don't know your racial heritage
and do know the adage about birds of a feather.
It has been that way AND change is quickening.
Each successive generation is more tuned in.
Old farts like me still cling to the past,
and need to step aside.

So many young people connecting in/with/for life/communion/love awakening.

M.C. Newberry, I heartily thank you for the thought-full response to my work and will respond to any and all other comments. I did not know what identifying name you'd prefer, so I used the name in front of me.

Blessings abound,
f

Comment is about Color Matters (blog)

Original item by Fred Nicholson

Cleverly presented Marina - well done you. I guess we all get anxious about certain things and some more than others. P. ?

Comment is about anxiety. (blog)

Original item by Marina T

Hi Keith
Having read this, I started pondering my own reason for existence.
I believe (and hope) that at the end of it all we do "enter a black hole of nothingness".
After my time has finished on this earth, I'll be too knackered for anything else but oblivion.
Cheers Kevin

Comment is about A Reason (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Our climate IS changing, as it has done for centuries (?). Nature sees to that. And man has gone with the flow. No choice. But the Industrial Revolution changed the balance and we went gung ho (and still are) into it. Don't get me wrong, I know all the benefits and advancements this has given us but we have left a trail of environmental damage along the way. It's time to listen and take the science seriously and repair the damage.

Hysteria, media-seeking attention and it's disruption of daily life will not help the cause.

Eco-messiah (and "successor to Jesus Christ") Greta Thunberg said she she should be back at home, in school.(see my last post). The presenter in the video said there was just one thing she said he did agree with - she should be home being looked after, and at school, learning the scientific facts.....

Comment is about Climate Hysteria is Spreading – Helped Along by Eco-Messiah Greta Thunberg (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Beautiful Vautauw. I really love this and can relate. Lots of layers to unpick as I read over again. Thanks for sharing.

Comment is about Willpower and Discipline (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

As an environmental scientist the level of ignorance on this issue alarms me. We have literally a half century of very sound science on this - and it's far more robust than some of the medical science stories people are happy to take for granted with hardly a challenge. Trust me - as science funding goes, environmental science gets very little funding in comparison to medical science. I put it to you Don - if we move to a cleaner economy that does not rely on fossil fuels, what's the harm? Sure there will be an economic transition and hardship for some... as it was for blacksmiths when we traded horses for cars in the industrial revolution. The BIG losers will be those who are funding much of the anti- climate change rhetoric. Eg. Coal, oil and gas industry. It's exactly the same tactics used by the tobacco industry years ago. On the other hand, we will have much less air pollution ( the biggest killer worldwide) and a cleaner world. If climate change is real ( and it IS) and we don't act, the consequences are dire.

I should add that - working at a university, we find that some of the biggest supporters of climate science are farmers who have seen the changes occurring in their lifetime. When once they could turnover two growing seasons a year they now struggle with one. If you are keen to learn more without the hype, I'm happy to oblige. ?

Comment is about Climate Hysteria is Spreading – Helped Along by Eco-Messiah Greta Thunberg (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

I have a sneaking feeling that these 'activists' are doing it not for their cause but for publicity and media attention. Bit like politicians?......?

Comment is about Climate Hysteria is Spreading – Helped Along by Eco-Messiah Greta Thunberg (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

News › London
1,220 killed or seriously injured in London road collisions over three months

Ross Lydall
Monday 18 February 2019 12:48

How many people died or were injured by delays?

"But there again, casualties of all kinds - fatal, seriously injured, and slightly injured - went down only fractionally between 2008 and 2009, from a pretty startling 28,153 to a still pretty startling 27,979."
Wow! Imagine that-28,000 killed, seriously and slightly injured in 12 months by yellow vested protesters instead of motorists!!!

Comment is about POOR OLD LONDON (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Entertainingly close to the truth as things are!
The Brexit waltz that follows the EU manual of leading its members a not-so-merry dance when they try to change partners..

Comment is about The Brexit Dance (blog)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

I'm waiting for some "Remain" MP to explain how swearing an oath
of allegiance to Her Majesty The Queen (when they take their seat
in Parliament) stacks up against their readiness to bend the knee
instead to the foreign forces in an EU that presumes precedence over our borders, trade, laws and customs? So far, I wait in vain.

Comment is about Sitting Reading Paper (not another Brexit poem Don? Surely?) (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Some time ago, one of the UK government's more damaging actions
was to close down the large mental institutions that had existed for
a great many years - allegedly in the cause of getting the inmates
back into "the community" -an apparently laudable way to offer
more "freedom" & save the money that these substantial 24 hour centres demanded from the public purse.
One of the sadder results was that many of their inhabitants were reduced to a form of helpless (or drastically under-helped)
existence - trying to adapt to a life in which that "freedom" - held
out as the worthy solution - became too much for them to adjust to
and their situations worsened both individually and collectively.
A huge establishment like the famous Horton Hospital - with its
seemingly endless Victorian corridors, wards and outside grounds,
provided an unequalled sort of refuge for minds in torment Some
of those minds resorted to violence against innocent people in
the outside world to which they were returned, unprepared and
in many cases, unwilling, their familiar comfort-blanket snatched from them by the sort of good intentions that instead create hell.

Comment is about We love Manchester (blog)

Original item by hugh

Why wasn't I too surprised by the news just reported that actress
and activist of old - Jane Fonda - had turned up at a climate protest
in Washington and got herself - very publicly - arrested. Hanoi Jane
has moved to centre stage again!

Comment is about Climate Hysteria is Spreading – Helped Along by Eco-Messiah Greta Thunberg (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

I thank you Kate G.

Comment is about Some times (blog)

Original item by Fred Nicholson

Mental health issues cause a lot of our problems today. Problem is you can't see a mental injury like you can a physical injury so therefore it 'doesn't exist'.

Thankfully police are well skilled and trained in detecting and dealing with mental health related troubles....

Comment is about We love Manchester (blog)

Original item by hugh

It's a love triangle Don! Philipp can't stop talking about Thalia either, so she is kept busy with two poetic men these days ?

Comment is about Model Words (blog)

Original item by Ruth O'Reilly

So glad that I wasn't there today. On Monday I was in the arndale with my dad and I keep thinking what if he had been there not able to run away from that madman. I don't feel like going there for a while. I haven't even been to the arena since arianna grande concert. Good poem.

Comment is about We love Manchester (blog)

Original item by hugh

And I am grateful for your virtual friendship and support John. ? We survivors of dark days must stick together! ❤

Comment is about Betrayed (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Fender, Gibson
Raise some hell
Hit a nerve
Do it well ......

Comment is about Gibson (blog)

Original item by Allison Wonder

Willpower. My nemesis. Thanks for the inspirational comment Brian! I feel another poem brewing.

Comment is about Betrayed (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Thalia is drenching me with words and ideas Ruth. I wish she'd occasionally run out of steam and give me a break. It's all Philipos's fault....?

Comment is about Model Words (blog)

Original item by Ruth O'Reilly

I am not religious Keith, but to me, to spend all this time here in vain and be nothing at the end does not make sense. Logic says there's got to be something following. What I don't know. Perhaps a recycling of souls into new babies? But as someone said there wouldn't be enough babies to go around, to which I replied He could just create some more. Sorted.

Guess this explains population explosion. Logical......?

Comment is about A Reason (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thank you Don. Actually, I wrote this one as a song based on a melody I heard today.

Comment is about Simple song (blog)

Original item by Jeannot

I really like this Jeannot. So simple, and the spririts gradually rise to the end......

Comment is about Simple song (blog)

Original item by Jeannot

Sharing tends to always lesson pain....trouble is society seems to have become more individualistic, not wanting to share, political correctness, worried what others might think etc. You know the story. We're losing/lost that community-family-togetherness feeling....sad

Comment is about Problems (blog)

Original item by Ashleigh Davies

KEATS?! I think I love you Kate! Thank you for stopping by and making my day! ? I agree, the muse never completely goes away.

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Obesity, is in itself debillitating. But one does not need to settle for it. It can be reversed. The poem itself makes reference to diet and exercise...what is not mentioned is willpower, which is the main weapon to fight obesity. Don't use age as an excuse.

Comment is about Betrayed (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Well-penned John, and I've enjoyed all the responses. There's something to take from every perspective.

Comment is about Slash and Burn - extinction rebellion (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thanks Don. Your humor always brings a smile. "Rent-a-Muse" I think you have a million dollar idea there!

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

You are very Keats-like in your demeanor V and look what he achieved. Great poem. I too have lost my muse physically but he is still there in every word I pen. ?

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

I sometimes wonder if it is a requirement for creative types to explore the depths of our emotions, take on surrounding energies, feel everything intensely... so that we can pour those observations into our art. It's either that or we need to get out more! Travel, see the world, help the poor. Whatever gets us out of our head.

John, your poetry never fails to inspire me. Thank you for gracing my page with your presence. Let's continue to lift each other up and write on my friend. ?

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Hey Vau? You could put me on your desk as one silly Aussie with an answer to everything. Here's my quote contribution for your collection

"If I can't put a smile on your face I have failed as a poet" ?

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

NO. I am grateful that you have your beautiful soul and such a quirky loving, fluent, intelligent mode of growing old. I have so-many illnesses and such. Life saved from cancer/sepsis. Que Sera Sera.
x

Comment is about Betrayed (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Don't fret Vau, mine went off on my bike once (pre-Thalia, she would never do this to me, the darling). Back to my previous one. I hired her from a Rent-a-Muse shop. Fatal mistake Vau. Never fall into that 'trap of desperation'. They were a bit shonky. I shoulda listened to you Graham. You did warn me. But Graham I said, I'm desperate, and they're going cheap. Anyhow Vau, she disappeared. Took my bike and all. But I'm not helping your situation am I?

Take Graham's advice Vau. It's good.

John - Brian's right. You are indeed Quote City......?

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Good point and great quote Graham... A blank page will out stare you every time! That's one to put on my desk to keep top of mind and add to my collection of legendary writer quotes! ?

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

"Overpopulation I would suggest is the main reason for many of the world's current troubles" ( Brian Maryon)

Sheesh, you're Quote Village Brian.... ?

Comment is about Slash and Burn - extinction rebellion (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Well my middle initial is in fact 'A' so in school one of my nicknames was 'Roar!' You got it Ha,ha Our family crest has 2 lions as well so it all fits nicely. I'm not lion either, it's all true ?

Comment is about d.knape (poet profile)

Original item by d.knape

I've been down too - down in a stew (informal in singular A state of great anxiety or agitation.) Which I, too often, am in these days but your facility with words, to such a pithy effect - well, what the heck, perked me up, no end. Intelligence does that. Thank you.

No spring, nor summer beauty hath such grace, As I have seen in one autumnal face. John Donne

Comment is about Abandoned (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Blimey you're Quote City John!

Comment is about Slash and Burn - extinction rebellion (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Ruth O'Reily.
what a cute name.
are you a character
from a book?

ROR! add an A and you ROAR!

Comment is about Ruth O'Reilly (poet profile)

Original item by Ruth O'Reilly

I try to have one good thought a day.
sometimes it's difficult!
?

Comment is about Don Matthews (poet profile)

Original item by Don Matthews

not at all Trevor,
you always respond.
thank you.

Comment is about Trevor Alexander (poet profile)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Comment is about Slash and Burn - extinction rebellion (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Something I've pondered myself. Wonderful Fred

Comment is about Some times (blog)

Original item by Fred Nicholson

Very insightful Ruth. Wish I had more hang around me. ?

Comment is about Model Words (blog)

Original item by Ruth O'Reilly

Thank you for reflecting on my work Ruth. I agree that home is where the heart is.

Comment is about Treasure Hunt (blog)

Original item by Fred Nicholson

Tom,

Your poem is like someone breaking the ice to reveal what we know lies beneath the surface but find something else instead. The way we write must be unique as I believe no two people approach the subject in the same way but we can learn something from each other. I can go for days, even weeks, and feel lethargic and uninspired, then for no reason I hear words spoken which ignite my imagination, or see a sight which holds me or feel a moment of passion to express some pent up emotion. From the moment of revelation I am unstoppable until I have composed what lies in the depths of my mind. I write by hand with a pen, in one swoop and seldom review what I have written.

This poem should arouse some interesting responses.
Thank you for this

Keith

Comment is about Technique (blog)

Original item by Tom

I like that line ' always blaming others, but in them no defect'. That's exactly how it is with politicians. I do enjoy getting an insight into how people in other countries view us Brits during this Brexit thing. lol

Comment is about Sitting Reading Paper (not another Brexit poem Don? Surely?) (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Chrystel, having lived with dogs
exclusively for 20 plus years,
I agree whole heartedly.

Comment is about SCHADENFREUDE (blog)

Original item by Chrystel Roberts

I always enjoy the way you just so honestly express what everyone who writes poetry feels d.knape. I actually have lost lots of poems that 'visited me' because I thought ' who would be interested in reading or hearing it?' Lately I'm just writing them anyway!!

Comment is about Encouragement (blog)

Original item by d.knape

This reminds me of Paulo Cohelo's ' The Alchemist' the fact that you can journey far and wide, and in the end you realise that really you had the treasure within yourself all along. Nice work!

Comment is about Treasure Hunt (blog)

Original item by Fred Nicholson