It's a New Age

The world's moved on

Once, the mighty pen could tear down kingdoms

but now it's broken, blunted,

and abandoned in a drawer 

You won't see the new invention hiding in front of your face 

though its more dangerous than a three-edged sword
and sharper than truth itself

Beware, my friend
the quadruple-edged
pixel

A.J. Ponder

If you enjoyed "It's a New Age" you may also like:

Today - by my special guest "Billionaire Overlord"

or

Through the Looking Glass

thanks for dropping by and happy reading!

Call to Arms: by A.J. Ponder from Prophecy (The Sylvalla Chronicals)

When reality is cut asunder

And made anew

When the world cries out for Heroes

And Death awakens

When Evil slithers through

The cracks of Truth

Then comes a moment,

A call

Then comes a simple illusion that breaks its bonds

And becomes.

I was editing today and came across this old poem. Ironically, it was written as a chapter heading for my to be released book "Prophecy" (Yes, the book is a little bit cheesy. I like a good dollop of humour in my fiction!)

But still, it seemed apt.

The call has been made, either we are for human rights - or we are not.
Our reality is about to cut one way or the other -- into divisive hate, or a step forward to something better.

This is a time for heroes.
Who will they be?
Who will stand up for the rights of babes torn from their mother's arms?
Who will stand up for the oppressed?
What illusion is going to ne freed? One of hate? Or one of love?

Have a great week, people,
I truly hope we can make this world better.

A.J. Ponder

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi 

And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024? https://ko-fi.com/ajponder

Let the Children Cry Mashup poem from The Cry of The Children by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Do ye hear the children, O my brothers,

      Ere the sorrow comes with years?

They are leaning their young heads against their mothers —

      And that cannot stop their tears.

The young lambs are bleating in the meadows;

   The young birds are chirping in the nest;

The young cats are meming in the internet;

   The young flowers are blowing toward the west—

But the children, O my brothers,

      They are crying bitterly!

They are crying in the playtime of the others,

      In the country of the free.

Do not tell the poor young children, O my brothers,

      To look up to Him and pray —

So the blessed One, who blesseth all the others,

      Will bless them another day.

They answer, "Who is God that He should hear us,

   While the bullets singe the air 

While you take this bitter fear and trap us

    In concrete prisons without cheer?

Would you have us never see the sunshine,

   Or enjoy the light of day?"

Yes, they are worn with tragedy, unrelentingly maligned

But they're not bowing to the greed of the NRA.

They look up with their pale and sunken faces,

      And their looks are terrible to see,

For their grief abhorrent, draws and presses

      Down the cheeks of infancy—

"Your guns," they say, "took the life of our dear friends

   How can you justify these means — or defy our ends

We need gun control," their voices ring out clear

   They need to know — this time, will you hear?" 

And for all the little children whose blood is on your hands

   Will you stand up and do the right thing

Words are so very cheap. Now, in this time of tragedy

   We should let the children weep.

      Let them weep! let them weep!

"How long," they say, "how long, O cruel nation,

   Will you stand, to move the world, on a child's heart, 

Stifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation,

   And tread onward to your throne amid the mart?

Our blood splashes upward, O our tyrants,

      And your purple shews your path;

But the child's sob curseth deeper in the silence

      Than the strong man in his wrath!"

A.J. Ponder with many apologies to  Elizabeth Barrett Browning  (The Original Poem "The Cry of the Children is here. It was written to protest horrific child labour laws, but it's protesting the same people - people who profit off suffering, or use God's will to justify the unjustifiable)

I've been absolutely blown away by how well the young adults of Parkland Florida have bravely stood up to tell their stories and call for sensible gun control. And I've been absolutely horrified by the abuse they've received online. These young adults should have had time to weep, but knowingly or not, we've been preparing them all their lives for this time.

Let me be very clear, I have family who love their guns - I am not advocating taking their guns away. Nor are those teens. They are calling for sensible gun measures. There's no point blaming the FBI or local law enforcement for these events when their hands have effectively been tied by poor legislation. Gun control is a part of being civilized, just like wearing seat-belts. It's a little something that is regulated, not to undermine freedom, but to recognize the sanctity of life.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” MLK 

A.J. 

Have a great week everybody. Go out and do great things, the world needs you. :)

If All the World were Paper

If all the world were paper,
And all the sea were inke;
If all the trees were bread and cheese,
How should we do for drinke?

If all the world were sand’o,
Oh then what should we lack’o;
If as they say there were no clay,
How should we take tobacco?

If all our vessels ran’a,
If none but had a crack’a;
If Spanish apes ate all the grapes,
How should we do for sack’a?

If fryers had no bald pates,
Nor nuns had no dark cloysters;
If all the seas were beans and pease,
How should we do for oysters?

If there had been no projects,
Nor none that did great wrongs;
If fidlers shall turne players all,
How should we doe for songs?

If all things were eternall,
And nothing their end bringing;
If this should be then, how should we
Here make an end of singing?

Anon

Treasury Islands (a cute site you should definitely check out if yo're faicnated by children's literature) says this piece appeared in John Mennes and James Smiths  Facetiae, published in or after 1658.

It's always interesting to speculate about the inspiration for any work -  and I can't help but wonder if it could have been this piece from the Quran. There are various translations but this is the simplest I've found. "If the seas were ink and trees were pens, the words of Allah would not be exhausted." Such magnificence. Every so often I wish I could read something in it's original language, and that is definitely the case here. 

And all this was because I thought an "If" poem would be a great way to introduce my students to poetry. But I'm so taken with if poetry, next week, don't be surprised if you see another "If" poem. (Not necessarily mine) 

Have a great week

A.J.

George Gordon, Lord Byron,“Darkness” (1816) is the holloween poem this year

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came, and went - and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires - and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings - the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,
And men were gathered round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire - but hour by hour
They fell and faded - and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash - and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smiled;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and looked up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: The wild birds shriek'd,
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd
And twined themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless - they were slain for food:
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again; - a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought - and that was death,
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails - men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devoured,
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answered not with a caress - he died.
The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies; they met beside
The dying embers of an alter-place,
Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they raked up,
And shivering scraped with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects - saw, and shriek'd, and died -
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful -was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless-
A lump of death - a chaos of hard clay.

The rivers, lakes, and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirred within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropp'd
They slept on the abyss without a surge-

The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon their mistress had expired before;
The winds were withered in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need

Of aid from them - She was the universe.

I was instructed in no uncertain terms that because it was halloween this Tuesday, that it was essential to post an apropriately themed piece.

I can't help but think a modern version would have the sun burning. But that would totally ruin the halloween spirit ;)

Have a great week everyone, I hope you have a great week, and enjoy the fun of All Hallows Eve - or manage to avoid it - whichever you prefer :)

A.J.

Discovering Science with tomato power! :)

Apologies for the lack of a poem this week, we're going into an election at the moment in NZ and it's seriously tense, will we have Green policies, or not? Will we have fiscally sensible policies, that come from a deep understanding of how poverty and homelessness are expensive? Or giveaways just to look good, but not actually fix the problem?

Who knows. But what I do know is our kids are amazing, and their future is worth fighting for. Also this is just a cute little review of my book The Frankie Files.

Now all I need are some of Einstein's wonderful quotes about creativity and the imagination.
We need that creativity and imagination more than ever so we can look at the world and imagine what might be. :)

A.J. Ponder

The Frankie Files is available wide and on Amazon (aff link) and on ko-fi as an ebook only.

 

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi    

And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024

 

 

Goldilock's Jewel

This was originally called Blue-Green World, but as that currently has political connotations, I decided to change the name to Goldilock's Jewel.

Goldilock's Jewel

There's a blue-green pearl
dancing through
the darkest night
lit by
distant stars, and
whirling in the
tight embrace of the sun.

Its lustre
a blanket
barely 300 miles thick
stands between us
the dark of night
and the tight embrace
of the sun.

A.J. Ponder

Worth celebrating the world today, because why not. How can we look after it, if we can't appreciate it?

A New World, Today

We could home the homeless
End poverty
Tomorrow

If only we wanted

We could create a new world
Based on facts
And reason

If we followed the evidence

We could save ourselves heartbreak
Misery and sorrow,
Even death

And not be any poorer

We could do all this and create a better
A fairer world
For everyone 

No more ifs

We are way past dreaming
It's time for action
Today

A.J. Ponder

See links below to understand just how expensive austerity is, and why we need to change the paradigm we've been conned into believing.

Have a great week

A.J. Ponder

Housing homeless cheaper, more effective than status quo: study

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/housing-homeless-cheaper-more-effective-than-status-quo-study/article4563718/

Six Examples of the Long-Term Benefits of Anti-Poverty Programs

(https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/05/11/six-examples-long-term-benefits-anti-poverty-programs)

Early Childhood Education for All A Wise Investment

(http://web.mit.edu/workplacecenter/docs/Full%20Report.pdf)

And a few more UBI talks (Universal Basic Income) 

Ted Talk: Poverty Is not a Lack of Character, it's a Lack of Cash

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIL_Y9g7Tg0)

 Basic Income and other ways to fix capitalism 

(https://youtu.be/A2aBKnr3Ep4) - Let's look at the data - and stop following corporate narrative - or as the presenter says, "fairytales" - and dangerous ones, because they're actually twisting reality, rather than reflecting it.

Why everyone should have a basic income | Guy Standing

(https://youtu.be/NNHAgXy5dxQ)

Have you heard the news?

If you're reading my blog at the moment this will be a horribly familiar theme.
Anyone can make a stand - not just Meryl Streep in her Golden Globes 2017 speech. But on the phones, in the street -banding with friends and doing whatever needs to be done for human rights environmental needs, and democratic principles.  Corporate interests have shown money will trump all, and they're framing the debate. They tell us that we're not powerful and we can't change the world - well, that's only right if they can keep you at home and ignoring politics because you feel powerless. So...

Have you heard the
News?
Do you know?
Where you were
When
democracy died?
When
the free world fell?

Have you seen the news
What did you choose?
Where the f*ck were you
When
the lies flew
And before we knew
The meme had set

Did you see #maga become #masa
Make America Scared Again
And all because
We forgot it's our job
To stand up to power
And make the world a better place.

Have you seen the
Show?
Do you know?
Where you were
When
the free vote fell?
Did you see?
When
Jim Crow raised his head
Did you raise your voice?
Or did you watch him
Tear the vote
Away
From the poor
The huddled masses
Yearning to breathe free?

Now you can choose to sing
Everything is
Awesome
To drown out
Reality.
Or you can stand against
The entity that is corporate greed
And demand our world back.

Where are you?
The world is falling.

A.J.

Right, and lets get to it. What can we do?

Well, I have only one thing to say- Are you Ready? okay nobody's really ready for "interesting times"
But small things can make a huge difference. Here's a piece from Ecowatch. 6 Lessons Learned Fighting Oppressive Regimes While Trying to Protect People and Planet.
We can do this.

If we stand for truth, human rights, and the environment, and try to make a tiny difference for at least one of those we can make this world a better place. :)

One of the most important things an American can do is protect their voting rights. " The US Civil Rights Commission concluded that the odds of your vote being miscounted or tossed out are 900% greater if you vote in a community of color." So if I was an American I'd join the local @ACLU   https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights  But there are other great organizations you might prefer.

Stay strong, have fun, and never give up hope. We need you. :)
A.J. Ponder

Are you ready?

It's almost a New Year
again
Let's not make America fear
again
Let's not throw our brothers and sisters
to the wolves
again
We could make the world a better place
again
Are you ready?

We've done it before
in days of yore
We broke the bonds of
kings and queens
We threw off the shackles
of slavery
We stood up and demanded
One Person One Vote
Again and again
we demanded a minimum wage, a living wage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage)
and the democratic world flourished...

But now it's dying,
strangled by the weeds
we were
so careless of.

So, I need to know - are you ready
to speak up
against those who would silence us?
Are you ready - to stand firm
against those who would
strip away your vote?
destroy your living wage?
poison your food and water, the very air you breathe?
and allow innocents to be destroyed -
- in the name of oil- in the name of money
- in the name of power

Are you ready to throw off the lies that mute us?
Are you ready to stand against the gags that deny us?
Are you ready to make this world a better place?
Can you accept the cost?

The longer we wait
the more we'll pay.

So I need to know,
are you ready?

A.J. Ponder

An early poem so it can be published before the New Year in time for resolutions. There will not be one on the 6th, because there's no reason not to make a New Years resolution to support human rights. Mine is to speak out when I see injustice, to hold our politicians to account and to join at least one local group that supports human rights and the environment. 

Happy New Year everyone, also PS - a link to Mike Moore's 5 point plan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbaqst_B498 (it's basically all in first minute or so.)
A.J.

Globalism vs Corporatism

We are
the people of this world

We could
join together

To gain
basic Human Rights

We can't survive
without clean Food and Water

We shouldn't have to fight
for health and happiness

The globalization of human rights
should be our goal

But the corporate lie
pulls us apart

Makes us fight over the scraps
of their bloated table
 
They pay the corrupt
to distract us

They pay the corrupt
to make laws against us

They pay the corrupt
to rule over us

They say we're too small to change the world
but we must

One human at a time
one step at a time

We must think globally, act globally,
because the corporates are already global

We must fight globally and stand globally
because one,
by one,
the corporates would have us
fall.

A.J. Ponder

By using the word "globalization" to mean "corporate globalization" the very corporations it is meant to implicate have managed to steer the conversation and scare us into fighting against the very people we should be supporting. It's designed to prevent us from thinking about how to make the world a better place, and instead focus on scapegoating the victims of the oppressors whose greed has turned our world inside out, in search for oil, in search of gold, in search of power. But we can do something about it. We can join grassroots organisations (organizations if you're American) that promote #HumanRights,  #democracy, and the environment.
 
And the message for today is "Democracy is not a spectator sport - tag you're it." From, (of all places) The Big Picture RT.   Not that I'd recommend them as a news source, given the Russian connection. If you're going to get your news from only one place I'd suggest Amy Goodman's Democracy Now, specifically The War and Peace Report.

The Dinosaurs are Running Wild

Having just seen the film Jurassic World, I'm wondering if it's alright to even like such a colossal waste of...special effects.I guess it's a bit like having bubbles blown in your brain - sure it's fun, but you wonder how many brain cells had to die to bring you a steaming pile of - "Ooo look! It's a dinosaur with big teeth!"

So I thought I'd write a dinosaur poem. But every time I try, you wouldn't believe it but lyrics from Weird Al's Jurassic Park derail everything.

So poem...

Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
 
Nope. Weird Al lyrics again...


A huge tyrannosaurus ate our lawyer
Well, I suppose that proves... they're really not all bad.

So, it's the dinosaurs that aren't all bad...or the lawyers - because at least they're edible? Okay really this isn't helping, Weird Al. I still need a poem, and your lyrics are brainworm candy.

I recall the time they found those fossilized mosquitoes...

Seriously, there has to be points for any poem (or song in this case) that manages to start with a line like that. But it's destroyed my whole dinosaur vibe...so unless something changes, next week's poem wont feature anything dinosaur related at all. It'll probably be something catchy like Ode to My Earworm.

I know I can't wait, can you?

A.J.

In the meantime why not check out tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com  or for animal poems...I've just realised how short I am of animal poems...I will eventually put up a hub...but in the meantime why not visit my cat posts here. After all, cats are pretty scary to anything smaller than they are. Also if you follow me, I will be turning up from time to time on Saharsblog.com, in her Ask an Author feature:http://www.saharsblog.com/category/ask-an-author/


 

Cat-World Problems

People are starving in Africa,
but the cat is at his bowl
complaining about the
vast sliver of bowl
daring to peak through
cat biscuits

There's murder on the news
but the cat is at the door
complaining about the rain -
and what are you going to do
about this climate change?

You can't deny it,
you know it's serious
when it's a cat-world problem
 because the fatter the cat

the bigger the noise




A.J.Ponder


P.S. Although of course neither of our cats are fat - they're just...big boys. And absolutely gorgeous...if a little demanding.

P.S. A.J is the author of Quest, Prophecy, Omens, Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death, Wizard's Guide to Wellington, Attack of the Giant Bugs - a You Choose Science Adventure, and The Frankie Files

 

 More cat poems:

Accounting for Herbert

Queen of the Chair

The Piano Twins (cute kittens) 

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi and tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024: https://ko-fi.com/ajponder

 

 

 

Throw Away World

I gave you water

and you spilled it

I gave you flowers

and you crushed them under your boots

I gave you light and you hid from it

preferring to make your own

now, at the end, I give you darkness

and still you throw coal on the fire

A J Ponder

So tired this week, everything hurts like lead - and I'm thinking its time to start consolidating and getting some stories into publishable form and having them escape out into our little throw away world.  Time weighs heavily, and has to be meted out with great care - but the more I do that the more it slips through my fingers...

A.J. Ponder 

 A.J. Ponder's work is available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Alicia's World of Warcraft Poem

It seems a certain game

requires

you bring my poem

past the dangers

of war

through death and

through danger

to complete your quest

in a world

unreal.

This is not the truth.

I require

only that

you wend your way

through my reality

along the stony path

past the troll

of misunderstandings

to the mountain of disbelief.

If you stand there

upon the tip of your toes

you'll see the world

as it never was.

This is not the truth

For in my world realities sail

bright as ships on a shining sea -

only slightly beyond the pixelated

blood, sweat and tears

of conformity.

So take those words back -

if you can -

past the horrors of war

through death and

through danger

to complete your quest

in a world

as real as

you.

A.J. Ponder

It has come to my attention (P.S. never google your name and poem - it can be a pretty hair raising experience)  that there is a certain quest in Warcraft that requires taking "Alicia's Poem" from somewhere to somewhere else.  Presumably.  

-- I had to include this - in my comments Tim Jones outlined the true origin of the World of Warcraft poem - it's such a touching story, the death of a player inspired writers of the game to create this quest - and the poem to go with it - the real "Alicia's Poem" can be found here.  Try not to cry.

And I thought, as any poet might (at least after the initial dicombobulation), that there had to be an actual poem in there...somewhere.    Enjoy, have fun, and don't forget there are more worlds of poetry waiting for you...

A.J. Ponder

I hope you enjoy my poems on this blog, for more of my work check out Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores