…and the Princess cast a spell over the whole land,
the people walked around stunned, dazed, exactly like
they always had. Or was it the King? The media?
The rotating door of self-motivated Prime Ministers?
Arsenal, Man United, populace divided, name the issue
where everyone is agreed. And they think drugs,
always just ‘drugs’, is (singular) escapism. Everything
water-cannoned at us is escapism. We’re reeling.
What was the thing that was important? Tip
of my tongue, oh why is Alzheimer’s so popular?
Remember the time we worried about plastic?
Oceans of time has sunk by since then, marked
by Covid, war, power and food rationing (soon),
weather – yes was it to do with weather? Biodiversity
sounds better than species-death. What’s a word for
planet too hot to live on, seas too high to live near,
humans too many for this glitter-ball? No, a word
that helps us keep looking the other way. Oh yes,
there isn’t another way. Will the blind mole rat
outlast the blind head-in-sand politician? If
– no, make that when, we reach the end, singing,
fighting, watching TV, we’ll admit: It’s a fair COP.
Verses of Five 