Whose World is it, Anyway?

We're adrift
in a tv show
with Drew Carey's evil twins
pronouncing
the facts don't matter

Only we're not talking about
who gets the credits -
or the last word.

It's not like we can escape
the gas that's seeping,
or the oil you're sweeping
under the stage

Not to mention the
loose wires,
the smouldering fires
and the sprinklers set to Climate Change.

Come on, guys,
it's too late for improv
and some nob
spouting metaphysical
"what's real, anyway"
bullshit.

This is a crisis.
We're dying down here.
Overheated,
poisoned
and drowned in
endless
obfuscating
babble.

You can't make these things up
and not even Josie or Sandi
can balance the obvious bias.
We need the audience
in this game,
pointing out
the facts.
This theatre,
this game
was never about the points,
it was about having the time of our lives.

A.J. Ponder

A piece inspired by a right wing "libertarian" who insisted that facts don't matter so much that I couldn't help but think of Drew's famous line on Whose Line is it Anyway, "Where everything's made up and the points don't matter."

Who knows what we're meant to do with these people who fly into endorphin releasing righteous indignation any time the lies they base their lives on are threatened - Seriously, what are we meant to do with people whose opinion can't be swayed by facts, and who've ensured that, by simply refusing to believe that facts are a thing?

I almost put "where the spin's made up" but that spin is
terrifyingly real so...

BTW the clip opposite has been captioned many times, you'll find most of them by searching the slogan. Where everything's made up and the points don't matter. so here's another one, because the meme is so screamingly obvious, the U.S/America line had already been taken.
#posttruth

Have a great week,
And never take a good fact for granted ;)

A.J. Ponder

Dear Captain America

Pardon me, but your sword and shield are trampled in the dirt
they're a little broken,
a little rusty perhaps
but I know you can dust them off
and mend the cracks

I don't mean to intrude, but we're all being squashed by a golden elephant
maybe it's rude
not to all love gold and all
but the shit is toxic
and it only helps itself to the ball

My apologies, I know it's a hero thing, but really, do you have to
exhaust all alternatives
before doing the right thing?
surely the small problem of climate change
is enough embroiling?

So, please, if you wouldn't mind, my dearest, and most influential friend
pretty, pretty please
let the vote ring out fair and free
and mend your broken sword and shield
of justice and of liberty.

No need to hurry you, or anything, but children are dying
the air is poisoned
and the water too
but the problem can be fixed-
the only question is-
will you?


A.J. Ponder

Apologies for the couple of weeks off, had a touch of a seasonal cold, it's coming up to autumn here, but now the cicadas are out, the sun is shining, and it's been a surprisingly nice couple of days after a bit of a cold front and parts of the country under water.
Wishing everyone well, especially the kids who are fighting against climate change, for a better world http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-climate-change-lawsuit-2307504755.html

A.J.

The Moment by A.J. Ponder

There's more than this -
more than the endless
wait
for expert idiots
who've yet
to reach the 21st century

The plane's on fire
smoke trailing
from the fuselage -
and you think
the remedy'sto look the other way?

So yeah,
I'll push
because you won't find this
without stepping out
into the abyss
of
might have been
should have been
 So keep your false
promises
of tomorrow
and take the leap
because I'm tired of watching
as you
destroy the engines,
shred the parachutes
and pretend
the moment is not upon us

The moment
when today
has lost it's luster -
and
today is
almost gone

A.J. Ponder 


It's been a good week, an angry week. So I hope you enjoy my angry poem :) And just so I can do the search engine thing - global warming, climate change, but of course that's not what this poem is about not really - just incidentally. I'm hoping it still works, anyway.

Thanks for dropping by, and have a great week!
A.J.
 

The Nylon Gibbet

There's death riding over the waves,
so lets raise the jolly roger
avast

It's been so long since
we danced the hornpipe,
and made our victims walk the plank
lest they raft ashore,
on plastic bottles
 
All hands to deck,
trim the sail,
and raise the nylon gibbet,
for the tide waits for no man -
and our ship's a ghosting
against a hot wind,
amongst the empty waves,
while the innocent
hang


And a don't ye splice the mainbrace
until we've raised
the black flag
avast

A.J. Ponder

The idea for this poem is a mash up of a "dancing pirates" idea that refuses to work, and this truly horrible article The Ocean is Broken http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/--this/

It's a real worry that everybody wants and needs what the sea can provide, but it seems not everybody is prepared to look after it.

Miss Lionheart on Amazon

A.J. Ponder is the author of Wizard's Guide to Wellington and  Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death.  

(Bundled into a super secret underground bunker Lilly must use her awesome genius skills - and her not so awesome social skills to survive long enough to create awesomely dangerous creatures and escape almost certain death...

 

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