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on silence
so, men with uniformsbadges and guns waitedfor other menwith uniforms, badges and gunsto come to the rescue? do you know the children’s rhyme of the old woman who swallowed a fly then swallowed a spider, a bird and a cat a dog and a goat, a cow and a horse after that? ~ CLP 28/05/2022 →
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on education
children of Texaslearn drills to escape shooterslaw-makers profit Mauripol childrenlearn Russian curriculumteaching at gunpoint ~ n.b. In the USA the elephant in the classroom carries a gun because of a constitutional change way back in 1791. Surely it is time for a review of that blood-stained document? https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/05/gun-rights-groups-set-new-lobbying-spending-record-in-2021/ In Ukraine the elephants are cancelling school →
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“America is killing itself”
Like Dunblane, the horrorLittle children trapped, shotWith their teachersA single man with all the hatred a heart can musterYou can’t buy a beer when you’re eighteen in TexasBut you can buy two gunsWalk into an elementaryAnd murder twenty-one ~ n.b. For the editorial that spawned the headline above, check out Le Monde, the Parisian daily →
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on tenderness
this lives somewhere within and between usexists not without, cannot survive aloneforms around us, surely not beyond usfear not the performance, fear not the actdoes time and place and circumstance persistto permit retrieval of such gentleness? ~ CLP 24/05/2022 →
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on time
crossing road, stops, waitsleave, or carry it over?hedgehog prickles sharp ~ n.b. It’s been some time since I have seen a hedgehog alive. Their natural defence is to stop, curl into a ball then hold still until the perceived threat passes. They have yet to work out that this doesn’t work when approached by motor →
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Morning Sickness
Light draining from summer skyLife draining from a marriageNothing matters anymoreChoking on tearsEveryone can hear themWindows opened to cool nightA domestic blister bursts inRemoves all dream of sleepShe’s beyond distraughtHis vocabulary in retreatIt’s twenty-to-twoShe’s twenty-nine, in painTrying to end it allBefore dawn throws it all up again ~ CLP 22/05/2022 →
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on the river
take a walk with merising Thames and dappled shadeSouth Bank setting Sun ~ CLP 21/05/2022 →
Journey of Words 