No Tuesday Poem: Sick

.

Questioning the Status Quo

Questioning the Status Quo

Why do we measure achievement in money?

Why do we allow ourselves to be held hostage by tradition?

Why is the food pyramid still taught in schools?

Why is birth control not encouraged along with aid to impoverished nations?

Why, after we won the right for a 40 hour working week, did we throw in the towel?

Why do older kids do better at school

and sport?

Why is there no consistency of care for our vulnerable youth?

Why do we have a four-term school year?

Why were women expected to stay at home,

expected to work,

and finally expected to do both?

Why does everybody shrug and say,

that's the way it is, because that's the way it's always been.,

Since when has that lie been an acceptable answer?

Many things have a long and revered history,

racism

slavery

cannibalism...

Fine, the history isn't revered, but at the time

Such behaviours were accepted as normal,

even respected, worshiped,

as the order of things.

The fight against the old evils isn't over,

while the fight against new evils has just begun.

But let us not start with,

"That is the way things have always been."

In the past they were worse.

Don't we have more hope than that for the future?

For the youth we farm out
to schools to welcome them in
and throw them away
four times a year,

How could we care so little? 

A..J. Ponder 

Sometimes it's not the perfect answer that is needed but the perfect question. Sometimes it seems to me that we do things simply because they seem the right thing to do, or we use emotion or tradition or simply what other people are doing to make our decisions rather than looking at all the information objectively. 

It seems wrong to allow ourselves to become so complacent, especially now when times are tough and making good decisions is more important than ever.  Because when there's no room to question the decisions we make, individually and as a society then there is no real freedom.

Don’t Care

Don’t Care

Don’t care didn’t care,
Don’t care was wild:
Don’t care stole plum and pear
Like any beggar’s child.

Don’t care was made to care,
Don’t care was hung:
Don’t care was put in a pot
And boiled till he was done.


Anon.


Another blast from the past.  It's got the brutality and morality of an old fairy tale, a very very short fairy tale, and I remember a certain grandmother having a particular fondness for the second verse.  It wasn't until later that I discovered there was a first verse to go with the second.  with it the poem makes somewhat more sense, and has a wonderful tone and gathering of rhythm that's kind of fun -- but mostly its great because now my children hate it almost as much as I did :)



A..J. Ponder 

Boys, Please Dont Rock the Boat

  The boys are restless, 

Māui-tikitiki-o-Taranga

And his brothers

Treading lightly

Enough for atua but

Creating the tiniest crack --

A devastating splinter

For mere mortals.

And we watch in fear,

Those who infest the fish.

We watch and listen from afar -

"Kauaka tikoki e te waka"

Knowing your music is

 You                  Not ours.

                                                            are

      shocked.

             All are shaken,

                overwhelmed, relieved,

                 for, in this place we hold life is sacred.

         Families, friends, the cleanup crew,

           no one forgets the North waits

                                                             for Maui to

               carve

                               the fish

                                we

                                        pretend

                                               is

                                                        land

Alicia Ponder

I felt the earthquake was the province of people who had lived through it. That raw emotion belongs to you who lived through it and are still living through the aftershocks. Still something like this doesn't pass anyone in New Zealand by, we all know people who are affected, so this was my take, a little late. Hopefully there's some kind of balance with North and South -- apart but together. Also if anyone speaks Maori feel free to tell me if I've stepped wrong. I was using online dictionaries for hours to try to get the phrase "don't rock the boat". Which was a bit of an eye-opener, because I thought it would be dead easy. And it wasn't - a bit like the shape itself. :)

PS if you want to know about quakes in your corner of New Zealand - why not check out GeoNet? It can give you updates, either choose your region or check out the overview.

A..J. Ponder - Amazon author page

My Mother Said... Anonymous

My mother said, I never should
Play with the Gypsies in the wood;
If I did, she would say,
Naughty little girl to disobey.
Your hair shan't curl,
Your shoes shan't shine,
You gypsy girl, you shan't be mine.
And my father said if I did,
he'd rap my head with the teapot lid.

The wood was dark, the grass was green,
In came Sally with a tambourine.
I went to sea - no ship to get across,
I paid ten shillings for a blind white horse,
I up on his back,
and was off in a crack -
Sally, tell my mother I shall never come back.

Another old favourite.  This poem has the allure of the forbidden.  It moves and dances with its own freedom, as it develops from repression to mystery and new beginnings.

Growing up in New Zealand the idea of Gypsies seemed as exotic and enticing as fairies and I have to admit I was surprised to find that this poem wasn't so easy to find as I thought.  There was nothing in particular dedicated to it, just some blogs with versions that didn't seem quite right.  This mash-up seems to be the closest to my rememberings although I'm sure other people will have their own favourite versions.

A..J. Ponder - Amazon author page

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

Seven Rings for Mortal Man

Believe it or not, it's New Zealand SpecFic Blogging week. So I thought how about a little homage to the Lord of the Rings film in the hope that The Hobbit will eventually materialise.  (I'm dying to know if they are going to open with the scene of Smaug I've always imagined.)

Seven Rings for Mortal Man

I have a tale to tell to you,

A tale of woe and endless rue

Of dark things stalking in the night

and brave men come to do what’s right

Of Princesses and courage true

As seen on high from Godlike view

Of cameras scattered in the night

To catch this truly awesome sight

Now I would be a Hero

and wield a Hero’s blade

To smite the foe in battle rage

If only I could make the grade

Or evil crawling in the night

To fight the good with all my might -

It is not beneath my pride

To slaughter elvish scum upon an orcish tide

For these things I long, and many more

but to walk until I get footsore

And I absolutely swear

a dozen steps to get nowhere…

I’d do it all again for

This feature promises to bring

“Riders” dark and menacing

Dwarves and Elves and Men

And special effects beyond my ken

The stars the moon the absent sun

The stones on which the rivers run

Bless them all this awe-full night

In the promise of the sight

Of

One film to rule them all

One film to spell-bind them

One film to bring them all

and in the darkness…

just watch it!

A..J. Ponder - Amazon author page

ok maybe it's not pure spec fic but here's some others - one or two of which might be considered Spec Fic - hey what do I know?  I just write stuff.


SpecFic POEMS
Time Wyrm - The crack in the universe expanded
Kaitoke - 'nough said.
The Fair Folk by William Allingham
Ecila - I'm sensing a pattern.  A certain someone falling down the rabbit hole.

As You know Bob - prose poem by Tim Jones
Books in the Trees - Tim Jones.  Not actually a poem but definitely a fun read.
I know there are so many others but the slipper just fell off and the pumpkin is leaving.

NZ SpecFic BOOK REVIEWS

hundreds of SFFANZ book reviews (some of which will be NZ)

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier (lovely book, quite romantic)
Thornspell by Helen Lowe 
Brainjack by Brian Falkner 

Interviews with NZ SpecFic Authors

Elizabeth Knox (with Helen Heath, 10 Questions series)

Mel's View

Your poem sat
watching the world
under your window,
sitting on your sill
serene as spiced coffee,
scarf wrapped
round and about,
nothing poking out,
but scratching toes,
a cold nose,
and thump,
a tail.

A..J. Ponder - Amazon author page

I suspect this is Mel's and my little in joke - but sometimes it's the little things that count. Sometimes that's all we have, especially in times of upheaval or worry. So here's to all those people in Christchurch, we don't know what you are going through, but we've seen some of the devastation and our hearts go out to you.

Cheers, everybody.  Best wishes.