The poem below will be featured on the quite excellent Stares Nest (www.thestaresnest.com) next week.
I have been invited to perform in Manchester at the Castle Inn @ 7pm on the 20th August. First time I have actually been asked to perform rather than just turn up half cut with poems in my pocket. Exciting!
Anyway, here is ‘What I Don’t See’, a poem that will surely be included in my first collection, available from Rowanvale Books as of Oct next year.
What I Don’t See
To the BBC News,
When I look outside my window
I do not see famine
I do not see rapists and murderers
I do not see pit-bulls mauling children
I do not see poverty
Or Aids
I do not see the failings of the health system
Or a cocaine snorting politician
I do not see people growing old
And dying
I do not see gangs of feral youths
Stabbing immigrants
For iPhones
I do not see cancer
I do not see the rain
I do not see obesity
I do not see guns
Rappers
Grand Theft Auto
The movies of Eli Roth
Or anything else causing violence
I do not see prostitutes
Or drug dealers
I see two sheep
One chicken
And lots of hills
Please report this at once
To cheer everyone up.
©Stuart Buck