A Colour Blind Politics

is only as possible as a colour blind history,
which is to say it is not just impossible,
it is also absurd.  

Any history where sight
is it's witness and informant
will always be a history of colour
whilst being a register of social class.

In the USA citizens vote for flawed Utopias,
in elections where they accept 
that the flaws will never be fixed
but may be made 'manageable',
if the right president achieves office.

No president has ever taken on the history
where non-citizenship for the many
was part of the constitution, then it wasn't.
When the government broadened citizenship
it divided the country in a war
in which the losing side denied defeat
and saw no need for reconciliation,
no president has taken on all of this and won.

Now it seems to be too late
to expect such a person.

  

Why I Won't Do Zoom

or Skype, or any of that tripe;
they present to me a non-corporeal life,
where the mind thinks, the eye sees,
the ear hears and the voice will speak,
using words that suit the occasion.
But they will do it at such a remove
from what is in front of me
that I get no sense of intimacy.

It might as well be my afterlife.
I have no intent of going there early.

Don't Drop

Stop shopping,
when you don't need what's sold.

Help yourself to a quieter life
and a larder and appetite
that is quietly under control.

Stupidity Is A Philosophy

If you don't believe me,
look around you, at where
self interest meets duplicity
and tell me that those people
who are double dealing
for whatever intent
multiply the effect 
-by denying to themselves
that they are doing it.

When Classification Is The Problem

Recently I relearned the story
of the downfall of Oscar Wilde,
about how he was the fall guy
for what Victorian society
refused to accept that it did
as vehemently as it refused
to do anything about it.

Oscar endured what we now call
'a mid-life crisis' when he met
the youth known as Bosie,
who was an unwilling member 
a dysfunctional aristocratic family.

Before Oscar and Bosie met
Bosie knew more that Oscar did
about what we now call 'being gay'
and the life of boys 'On the game',
the youths whose attractiveness
got them barred from better occupations.

Men who were corrupted by their wealth
always knew how to misuse a boy was poor,
better than the boy himself could acknowledge. 

This was one side of  'The double life',
or how one life could be seen two ways
which was the great Victorian fascination. 

Victorian society wanted to be viewed
as 'moral' whilst benefiting the few
and blaming the poor majority
for 'the immorality their poverty'. 

Danger; Normality At Work

 We all seem normal 
to folks who don't know us.

If we remain that way
after becoming friends 
and saying we know each other
then our being known 
should be reason for worry.

Picture Set Of The Month - March - Safer Sanitation For Women

Agnes said 'I am very happy because I don't have to
collect grass every morning to put on the roof'. 

Athanasia's toilet constructed under a eucalyptus tree
was built for her by her community.
It has a view of Gitwa.  

Marie Pierrette's toilet is the chance for her
to be creative 'It is quite small' she said
'I wash and clean it every day. I try to do my best'.

Marie Lydia's toilet was built when nearly everybody
else in the village had theirs. Marie said
'We paid for our first toilet by ploughing 
other people's land'. 
All photos taken by Elena Heatherwick for Wateraid.