Modern Times

                                      (Picture Credit - Shanghai by Ask2Travel com)

In teenage years I and others dreamt

Of hover cars,

Moving pavements

And endless star treks.

 

But what did we get?

People shuffling along with heads in mobiles.

All transfixed by a Virtual World.

A seemingly endless forest of digital pages

As they scroll down through a teeming waterfall

Of so-called comments, images and memes.

 

But in the real world

Buildings crumble

People freeze and starve

Because some computer says

They don’t have the “Money”

To maintain anything or

Even feed themselves

Or their children.

 

Where did that image of a glorious future go?

You don’t need telling that

We have war in Europe

As mighty Superpowers and International Corporations

Jostle with one another

To control our lives.

World domination is what they seek.

 

Their factories pour clouds of black smoke

Into the sky

While they appease us with Climate Conferences

And blame Mister and Missus Everyone

For polluting the planet.

 

But as I say, you don’t need me to tell you this

Or sooth you with a Moon in June.

As the Americans say, Reality sucks

Which is why

All those heads are stuck in all those phones.

 

Paul Butters

 

© PB 9\11\2022.

How Many Times

 (Picture Credit - Big Ben from Freepik)

How many times can I say

I don’t want to die

Or extol the bountifulness of Mother Nature.

And how many times can I gasp

At the wonder of our ever-expanding universe?

It is what it is

As I’ve said on many occasions before.

 

Yet that mysterious aura of spirituality still surrounds us.

Perhaps my Muse is having an early Autumn break.

We still are but tiny ants

Looking up and dreaming

About what lies beyond

Our star speckled night-skies.

 

It took us ages to find that we all come from Africa

That The Earth is not the centre of The Cosmos

And that really we know next to nothing

About anything.

 

We were so easily ravaged by a tiny virus called Covid

And still struggle against the excesses of Global Warming.

So much more still needs to be done.

 

It’s The Anniversary of Nine Eleven,

Queen Elizabeth II is dead.

King Charles III has taken the throne.

The kids are back at school now

And in the blink of an eye

It will be Christmas.

 

Paul Butters

 

© PB 11\9\2022.

Heat

 

 

(Picture Credit - Pexels com)

Heat from the street beneath my feet keeps hitting me.

The sun above relentlessly shows no mercy,

Baking everything with its fiery stare.

Sultry mugginess smothers us in a sauna of sweat

As even the breeze burns my reddening face.

 

Global warming turns us into another Venus

As record-high temperatures

Scorch us into submission.

Even some Sun Lovers are hiding now,

While others insist it’s just Summer.

In heat like this there’s only one solution…

 

Time for a beer.

 

Paul Butters

 

© PB 17\7\2022.

Weather

 

 

(Picture Credit - Twinkl co uk)

 

Britain is a battle ground for global weather.

Sometimes four seasons per hour!

An endless variety of cloud formations

But occasionally clear blue skies.

 

I love all those clouds.

Seeing faces, castles and who knows what

In all those shapes.

Gloriously colourful dawns and sunsets

That make life worth living.

Oh those reds, oranges, yellows, blacks and blues!

You can’t beat a sunset.

 

Hate the wind

And the snow.

But snow does look pretty.

Those crystalline flakes

Gently floating to the ground.

 

But then we have thunderstorms too!

Lashing lightning, striking from black sky.

Rumbling thunder exploding all around.

 

Such endless variety.

Rain and hail pounding down the chimney stack.

Relentless sun scorching crack-ridden earth.

Every extreme.

All manner of disturbance

And beauty.

An accompaniment to being Alive.

 

Paul Butters

 

© PB 2\6\2022