Category Archives: Contemporary Issues

Poems about issues of the present day

Unfettered Catastrophizing

Unfettered Catastrophizing
[One man’s description of our press and media]

No such thing as Good Tidings of Great Joy
News only news if it conveys catastrophe
That’s the creed that editors live by
News only news if it trumpets calamity

A world serene, characterized by peace
Not news unless interrupted by disaster
A diet of accident, fire, bloodshed and disease
Such graphic scenes described by the newscaster

Of course we know we cannot deny life’s tragedy
The press does have a moral duty to report
To sanitize news bulletins would of course be calumny
But is it not surprising how little good news they exhort?

Must our media ever resort to catastrophizing?
Every incident, every misdemeanor, every commotion
Showcased into something quite tantalizing
Designed to evoke the strongest of emotion

Shock, horror, the watchwords of our press
Perhaps this is the dying cry of a threatened tribe
The slant of their news reveals their own distress
In a world which increasingly ignores the scribe.

Ken Fisher

Plus ca Change, Plus c’est la Meme Chose

Plus ca Change, Plus c’est la Meme Chose

‘the more it changes, the more it remains the same’

Nothing new under the sun, we sometimes declare
Because what appears to be new is already there
And when confronted with what we’re told is new
We suddenly experience a flash of déjà vu’

Doubtless we are surrounded by never ending change
Without it life would indeed be rather strange
But frequently we have inwardly reflected
Newness is just the old, believed to be perfected

And sometimes that perfection is not quite achieved
Leaving us feeling somewhat cheated, even deceived
Eventually it dawns upon us that what is claimed as change
Is simply a revival and much remains the same

Perhaps we should be just a little hesitant
Of novelty hailed as completely without precedent
On closer examination we may find that sometime in the past
This latest idea or gizmo had been claimed unsurpassed

But if something from former times had been so highly prized
Its reappearance in another form should no-one surprise
Thus ‘plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose’ should still be acclaimed
Proving the worth of continuity in a world of change

Ken Fisher

 

Hic et Nunc

Hic et Nunc

[Here and Now]


Here and now that’s all there is
Past and future don’t exist
As past is gone so let it be
Future we can not yet see

Let not shadows from the past
Cause our mind to be downcast
Nor foreboding for what’s ahead
Keep us wakeful while abed

Here and now is all that’s real
At its altar let us kneel
For hic et nunc we bring our praise
And seek to live in all our days

Ken Fisher

 

Repeat Prescription

Repeat Prescription

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Those of us of a certain age are by now quite familiar
With receiving from the doctor, nurse, or someone similar
A repeat prescription for all those many pills and potions
We take to aid our health and locomotion

But I wonder if we ever stop to think how much our daily living
Might be described as a repeat prescription, a routine unforgiving
The pattern of each day or week prescribed so regularly
That month-by-month and year-by-year it really does not vary

Of course stated thus it all seems boring and confining
A straightjacket of a life, imprisoned and constraining
But is there any virtue in our regular routines?
Although we are all human, not merely dull machines

So the life prescribed by a regimen of work and play
Such that we find satisfaction in the passing of each day
Carpe Diem – seize the day might be the best watchword
The aim and motivation by which our life is spurred

Thus rather than feeling enslaved by the repeat prescription
We should rejoice that life is truly not conscription
But freedom to choose how each day and hour be filled
In no way determined by our daily dose of pills

Ken Fisher

WDTM? [What does that mean?]

WDTM?
[What Does That Mean?]

WDTM is shorthand for What Does That Mean?
When we are trying to make sense of something we’ve seen
Or heard someone say, or maybe we’ve read
Which leaves us confused and quite often misled

A chapter in a text book that is required reading
Such obscure words, comprehension impeding
Or a professor whose lectures don’t throw any light
And preachers who vaguely hint at your impending plight!

Legal jargon is frequently quite impenetrable
Insurance renewals equally unintelligible
The instructions for assembly of any flat-pack
We must be smart if their secrets we’d crack

Guidance to fix a puncture on a modern car
Our mechanical awareness is really stretched far
Even setting a post code address on the new sat nav
Requires more savvy than most of us have

Have we ever tried a digital radio to programme?
It demands more awareness than an old wireless ham
Equally I  find the handbook for an alarm clock
Can give the uninitiated quite a nasty shock

What about the manual for the flat screen TV set?
It can easily bring us out in quite a cold sweat
All its options for timers and downloads galore
And too many choices that we mostly deplore

In completing Tax Returns for the HMRC
We must always be as honest as we can be
But our attempts at the truth can easily be thwarted
As the language of their questions is so very turgid

At any time have you tried to make sense
Of those paragraphs that are ever so intense
In contract conditions expounding the law
Or warnings from banks if you dare overdraw

Which reminds me of messages sent out from the bank
I know they will claim they are just being frank
How many paragraphs does it need to explain
If you cash in early that ISA there will be no gain

The same problems arise if you feel bold enough
To enter the realm of social media and all that guff
Setting yourself up on  Twitter, Facebook or Google plus
Is rarely achieved without a great deal of fuss

In all these situations we are increasingly confused
Words spoken or written simply leave us bemused
The recurring question is What Does That Mean?
To receive an answer to this we are really keen

Perhaps the problem is that we are awash with information
So many words thrown at us just leads to frustration
We need time to make sense of all that we are told
There is little doubt we’re at the information threshold

So when we receive any message, we should readily enquire
What does it say, what facts need we acquire?
And if we can make little sense of the communication
We should take early steps for its extirpation

W D T M ? should be our clarion call
Clarity from the message should be the demand from us all
Make them say what they mean, and truly mean what they say
Thus a clear message to us all they might surely convey

Ken Fisher

Traffic Jams

Traffic Jams

The bane of modern living is the daily traffic jam
When the flow of vehicles forms a metallic dam
We sit there a prisoner in our little solo cell
With no easy escape from this very private hell

But somehow we seem prepared to endure this daily grind
As commuters we have been sensitized to problems of this kind
After all we’re not alone as we crawl along the highway
Surrounded by mass travellers as we take a quick glance sideways

As long as we keep moving we seem to be appeased
But when others break lane discipline we surely are not pleased
A string of shiny red lights ahead is a warning we don’t like
And if we stop completely we might be tempted just to hike

But of course we won’t leave this cosy little capsule
Even if lack of progress will destroy the daily schedule
Because we are safer just to hang on in there, however long it takes
Missing all the deadlines and the subsequent heartache

We are tuned into the traffic news which brings us little comfort
And we know a stern warning awaits when our boss we must confront
But we will tell her we were not alone on that crowded motorway
Not the only worker with a bad start to their day

Unfortunately there is a thought in our head which will not go away
No matter otherwise the progress of the day
And that notion is the prospect looming ever closer
The journey home in twilight’s gloom might well be even slower

Ken Fisher

[This poem is published on the day the new Queensferry Crossing
on the Forth opened to traffic (30 Aug 2017)]

 

 

Send for the Cavalry

Send for the Cavalry!

An expression sometimes used when we are in dire straits
Completely overwhelmed, the enemy at the gates
In essence, when we are facing a threatening emergency
Then that’s surely the time to call for the ‘cavalry’

Of course most of us want to remain independent
Coping with any crisis, mishap or accident
But just now and again events overwhelm
And we lose our grip, our control on life’s helm

It is then that we’re glad there is an external force
Who to our futile efforts might bring support
They will come to our rescue, respond to our call
Shoring us up just when we might fall

Who is this elusive cavalry, ready to swoop?
It might be one person or even a group
Friends might be willing to come to our aid
And our loving family will not see us betrayed

So it’s a good idea that you should keep in
With friends, even more so with your kith and kin
For you never quite know when help you may need
To summons the cavalry at breakneck speed!

Ken Fisher

Action and Reflection

Action and Reflection

Luke 10 : 38-42 Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary
 
What matters most when living life, to act or to reflect?
The truth is not just a dichotomy so simple
Life is neither all action filled, while thinking we neglect
Nor solely contemplation which all activity would cripple

Perhaps it is a matter of which mode of being
Best fits the present moment and the circumstance
Partly our thoughts and frequently our feelings
Which of mind or hand we would advance

Some people by their nature more disposed to action
Yet others content with gentle rumination
But either approach will yield its own reaction
A measured thoughtful response or deeds wrought through passion

Of course the different players may find it hard to accept
That the response of the other is truly justified
They choose one stance and the other they reject
Either to act or to reflect will forever them divide

But surely the truth is that throughout all our days
We are constantly embroiled in both thought and deed
The one informs the other as we negotiate life’s maze
While respect for each approach is what we truly need

Ken Fisher

Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse

[Monday 21 August 2017]

As we look up towards the skies
[And don’t forget to shield your eyes]
The moon will block light from the Sun
As its shadow will our globe o’er run

Not everyone will be in shade
So you need not really be afraid
But parts of the U S A
Will find that night replaces day

I think that those who will be in shadow
Won’t miss the daylight they must forego
Because if they observe with care
They might catch the Sun’s coronal glare

I suppose there is a kind of magic
To experience this shade fantastic
And all fear of the dark will be dispersed
As in the gloom they are immersed

Eclipses make us all aware
Of other objects ‘way out there
And just as shadows cross our path
We should not let them prompt our wrath

For the moon’s shadow will progress
Renewed light will its power repress
And in due time the sun’s bright rays
Will penetrate another day

Ken Fisher

Three Simple Pleasures

Three Simple Pleasures

1

Returning to the reassuring comfort of
your car after a long walk in the countryside
The clunk of the door closing
The magical response of the engine
as you fire the ignition
Your re-entry to your own private capsule
Fully insulated from a threatening world

2

Squeezing the toothpaste tube
Extruding the minty snake on to your brush
Attacking your teeth with that serried rank of bristles
standing in line to do their duty
Vigorous massaging of teeth and gums
And then the rinse to wash away any detritus
The virtue of a mouth so clean and pure

[Let’s hope our words match it]

3

The wicked pleasure of a sticky iced bun
Sometimes called a Chelsea bun or even Belgian
No matter what the label may be
Your villainy is chastened by having to
get your fingers covered in goo
What can match the sensuous pleasure
of biting into its spiral coil shot through with cinnamon?

Simple pleasures – surely life’s real treasures

Indulge them!

Ken Fisher

Auld Claes and Parritch

Auld Claes and Parritch

 

Like all good things, it must come to an end
And there is no chance that it will extend
I mean those joyous six weeks of school holidays
When all thoughts of work just turn to play

Of course not everyone enjoys the interlude
But for most this break can change our attitude
Free from normal routine with its constraints
Most say that they have no complaints

Globe-trotters will have travelled to sunny shores
Others have found elsewhere to explore
For many it will have given a welcome space
Some new experience, new joys to embrace

Scholars may have studied and learned many facts
Others, perhaps more wisely, just took time to relax
Parents seeking with their kids a closer bond
While free spirits might have been tempted to abscond!

Holidays should have provided time to reflect
On aspects of living we tend to neglect
An opportunity to refocus and plan ahead
These weeks may even have been a watershed

So whatever the outcome of the annual vacation
Exotic overseas adventures or humbler staycation
Whether life enhancing or perhaps even menacing
Its approaching conclusion is often unsettling

But for most of us auld claes and parritch is the diet we face
Perhaps we simply yearn for the commonplace
‘Cause notwithstanding all the excitement and thrill
The ordered life, the common task, does yet fulfil

 

Ken Fisher

Would You Credit It?

Would You Credit It? Yet Again!
The Credit Crunch – Ten Years on
On the 10th Anniversary of the start of the 2008
Credit Crunch former PM Gordon Brown has issued a dire warning
the prospect of another one.

We’ve lost those days of easy spending
Supported by our banker’s lending
Good-bye to wine, blooms by the bunch
Thanks to the wretched credit crunch

How has this happened, what has gone wrong?
Failed to save for far too long?
Or in our dealings with the bank
Not always been entirely frank

The truth it seems is more elusive
The money men are quite evasive
You might have thought they would be frank
Helping us to trust our bank

Unknown to us behind the scenes
Our cash obscured by complex screens
Was sweetened up like golden honey
But ended up as “funny money”

In former days banks held deposits
And lent from only their own closet
But now-a-days that’s not enough
Competition’s far too tough

So out into the money market
Like Mother Hubbard with her basket
To multiply her store of cash
Nothing ever seemed too rash

To profit from this increased store
The banks got ready to explore
Lending out to whomsovever
Re-inventing the “never-never “

It mattered not how you would pay,
Or from the contract you might stray
The banks were there to do a deal
No matter how that made you feel

If soon you found you’re out of luck
Re-payment made you come unstuck
Instead of payments made on time
You very soon became “sub-prime”

The US bankers took the lead
Meeting every borrower’s need
But very soon the world at large
Ensured they too had joined the charge

A new regime came into place
To grant huge loans and win the race
Thus none of us need ever wait
To meet our needs however great

Every banker now must sell
To prudence they all said farewell
But every spender really happy
Credit granted very snappy

But then it all became unstuck
Spenders seemed to lose their luck
As they began to hit the red
Bankers could not sleep in bed

Suddenly their glorious plan
Amazingly “had hit the fan”
Borrowers gathered at the dole
Bankers seemed to lose control

This enterprise had somehow stumbled
As one by one the moguls crumbled
Thus had begun what seemed quite viral
Disease around the world did spiral

Quite suddenly as if by stealth
The end of our financial health
No longer ever in ascension
Our house, our shares, indeed the pension

Well is there any consolation
Word of comfort for the nation
Perhaps it’s this – why do we trust
In things so quickly turned to dust?

Ken Fisher