The Old Stoic’s Lethargy

January 6, 2023 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | LIFE, PETER'S WRITING, Poetry, POLITICS |

POEM FOR THE YEAR (with apologies to W. H. Auden) This earth in 2023 Is not the planet fit for me, A world, I need, to give me hope Opposed to the end of a rope. *** My Eden landscapes and their climes Are great constructs from rational times, When reason meant, at least, induction, Not dogma posed as deduction. *** The plastic bags we gather to be Transformed as if by alchemy: I chose to send them whence they came, The ground, from fossil fuels by name. *** I’m now required to approve Blighted wind farms that rarely move:…

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STONEHENGE STATS

December 18, 2022 | Posted by Lesley Jakobsen | HISTORY, LESLEY'S WRITING, LIFE, Poetry |

Here are Druidic spatial data, which is leadenly prosaic in both tone and content. ***************************** But three trilithons abide Seven metres high, five metres wide Sarcens – mortise and tenon joints Aligned to Bronze Age sistral points After digging an earthen bank, Fifty-six Aubrey holes the Britons sank Outer circles, a central horseshoe arc In total, seven times one Central Park Ninety-three stones remain at Salisbury Plain Once purchased by Chubb – but not for gain! (Cecil paid six thousand, six hundred pounds, Did that include the funeral mounds?) The bluestones came from Wales by boat (At about three tons…

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Skin Bag

December 8, 2022 | Posted by Guest Reviewer | Poetry |

By Julian Kelly ——————— Skin Bag Why do you laugh? Why do you cry? What is that light      I see in your eye?  

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Ode for Elizabeth

September 10, 2022 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | HISTORY, LIFE, Poetry |

Queen Elizabeth II (21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) The argument from merit Casts us all in a harsh light, Elevation arbitrary Tends to set things right. A young girl, out of Africa Came home to wear a crown, She asked for peoples’ prayers So she would never let them down. And while her Empire crumbled She refused to do the same, Lack of power her super-power, ‘De-Colonize’ her name. Her race is run and she will lie The wrong side of the turf; As certain as the sunrise –  Timeless as the Earth.

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Parody # 6: The Spoodle (Home From the Lab)

February 2, 2021 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | PETER'S WRITING, Poetry, WRITING & LITERATURE |

(with apologies to R. M. Rilke and his ‘Panther’)   His vision, from neurotic genes Has grown so confused it cannot bear Life. It seems to him there is No line, and in his mirror image, no life.   As he squeals and rolls his eyes, again He totters on rickety, confected pegs Like the fabricated gait of a wind-up doll In which no sentience occurs.   Only at times, the veil lifts Quietly; he sees a dog from the pound, A vague picture forms of real life and love –  It clambers through his button eyes, plunges the metal…

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