No-one

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Ewan

Mon, 01 Jun 2020
  • 4438 reads
15 comments
 

We are in a smoke-filled cinema.

The news is all Pathé;

monochrome, the goose-step

slaps loud through the speakers,

no-one shouts ‘fire’.

 

There is a rush for the exit

for the fresh, reviving air,

A policeman takes a knee

on another man’s neck:

no-one cries ‘foul’.

 

Everyone looks closer

in the rear-view mirror -

Alice’s looking glass -

in our distorted world

no-one gives fucks.

 

The signal to noise ratio

is low, the lies are loudest.

"Believers gonna believe",

when a lie is so big,

no-one says ‘fake’.

 

 

 

 

 

Certificate PG
Poem
Totentanz
Rant

Comments

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This deserves a big audience, that's why it's our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day

Please share/retweet if you think so too

 

Submitted by Ewan on

Can't wait 'til I actually write something cheerful.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by airyfairy on

Well said, Ewan.  It's easy to become speechless with it all, but this is a reminder that we really, really shouldn't.

Submitted by Ewan on

absolutely right, we shouldn't. Thanks for stopping by. X

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by littleditty on

Foul...i think we always hear the gunshots clear as day...the goosesteps however, well, one mans goose step is anothers something or other. Dark days indeed. I hate not to be cheerful...but the optimists are all dead. It's the realists who made it out alive soon enough last time...the dreamers didnt wake soon enough. Excellent piece - can you explain 'signal to noise ratio' a bit? Where is that phrase usually used? :)

 

Submitted by Ewan on

many years ago, when I listened to Soviet pilots' tactical comms as they flew over East Germany, the signal to noise ratio was an important factor in whether I or my colleagues could understand what they were saying. The signal was the transmission on a given frequency, all frequencies are affected by noise: white noise is static. Other phenomena, weather and sunspots,for example, create noise on or near to frequencies, particularly VHF. So, low or weak signal + high noise equals hard to hear and high-tone deafness in later life.

You are now bored and have conspired to break the Official Secrets Act. I won't tell if you don't. wink

 

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by littleditty on

idea. Thanks - so I have a turned up collar on a coat which is way too big for me, and in the pocket a brown envelope for some fella that was supposed to be here - I shall leave it on the step - laters x

 

Submitted by celticman on

yep, same old, same old. 

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

but it can be done with skillful surgery

 

Submitted by Ewan on

tattoos...

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou for explaining about noise ratio. Everything feels like we have slipped out of the sanity frequency, "the lies are loudest" sums it up.  Your anger comes across loud and clear

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Very thoughtful piece, Ewan.

The saddest thing is that right and wrong are not perceived with any clarity or general agreement. When the balance tips, it's usually just a shift in the margin. A few exceptions, but they are exceptional, like when the jack boots shifted to shuffling in pulverised concrete dust.

Parson Thru

Submitted by airyfairy on

This is our Poem of the Week.  Congratulations!

Submitted by lavadis on

I really enjoyed this poem and the brutality of the message is pitched perfectly 

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

A thought-provoking clarion call.