Poetry

Reuters photo

By

Warren Paul Glover

Accosted

Credentials revoked?

This is no joke.

“We will never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying        

 to do her job…”

Hello? Does

“Grab ‘em by the pussy”

ring any bells?

“Fake news!”

“That’s a lie!”

Fuck off and die.

Wow! That’s a

“fiery exchange”

Don’t be

“rude” or “terrible”

Don’t offend our…decency

Don’t be

“a threat to our democracy”

But who decides,

where the fault lies?

“A plague on both your Houses!”

said Melania.

Sorry! Mercutio…

Hold, Trump!

Has he not gone and turned to nothing?

Not yet, but hold on in there Jim.

There’s plenty of truth to tell yet.

Bushfires

It’s not the end of the world,

but you can almost see it from here.

Breathing in the cinders, you can smell and taste the fear

of communities gone up in smoke.

Paradise lost?

It’s no flaming joke.

The deadliest fires in state history

have claimed multiple lives

with many more missing, who were

…friends, husbands and wives.

As these wild fires rage across the land,

turning homes, which should be castles,

into ash, dust and sand,

California burns.

A hundred thousand denizens displaced.

As black wounds scar the landscape

and red engines scream the pain,

fire fighters, rescue crews too,

congregate at first light.

Volunteers and paid,

no one needs be swayed.

It’s all-for-one-and-one-for-all,

marshaled in the community halls.

If you could bottle this spirit,

just think of what could be done.

When the embers have settled

and a fresh dawn has come.

Warren Paul Glover

Warren Paul Glover is a British-Australian writer and actor, based in Sydney. He writes poetry, fiction and stage and screen plays, some of which have been published, performed or produced. He has a BA (Hons) in Sociology and, after fifteen years or so working for UK trade unions, mostly in the health sector, Warren moved from London to Scotland with the intention of doing a Masters in Global Health and Social Policy at Edinburgh University. While waiting for his Masters to start Warren enrolled on some short creative writing courses, also at Edinburgh Uni, and after writing poems about avocados and wardrobes he decided that this was more the stuff he wanted to write about, so he pulled the plug on his Masters. After emigrating to Australia in 2010 Warren did a playwriting course at the Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney, a novel writing course at the Sydney Writers’ Centre and an acting course at Sydney Drama School. His made his Australian stage debut as Lord Montague in Romeo and Juliet. Warren is a member of the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG).