Don't Tell Me, Just Be

Twenty years ago I had a friend
who liked being outrageous.
He would discomfort me
and made me laugh at the same time,
with the same comment.

He encouraged me a lot as well.

I remember well how I felt
when he first joked
about wanting his doctor to be
the then infamous serial killer
Dr Harold Shipman.

Stories of what Shipman had done
horrified straight society,
though it was the quietness
and charm with which he killed
that appalled them most.

They could not accept
how charm turned toxic.

Now I understand much more
about how my friend wanted
his final escape from this life
to be so quiet that even the signs
of the preparation for his departure
were kept outside of his awareness,
as he was unknowingly done away with.

Now I want the same thing too.
I have the courage to live alone,
and I know the fear of loneliness
is worse than loneliness itself,
but for somebody to quietly
fulfil my final departure
would be most welcome.

Disbelief Beyond All Proportion

It is only when human egos
become the size of small planets
that we realise why our planet
and it's contents are worth saving,
by which time more is gone
than was ever known to be there.

Even then many would deny
that their ego is a zero gain sum
where it's actual value is zero.

Pour Your Own Tree Trunk

Modern Art is at it's best when it confines itself to natural materials
in a natural landscape,  and shows skills that surprise people.

'Your Life Is On Hold, Your Life..... '

Being made to wait
will always have it's uses,
but rarely is the use
the waiting time is put to
as valuable as the task
that was meant to be completed
in the time we allotted to it.

Modest Living

The only item on my bucket list
is a bucket....

The Good News About Bad News

is that when it is news to you
and it is bad then it is surely happening
to somebody else, somewhere else
and there are so many places
that are far away from you
where it will be taking place
that you can't be witness to it.

100 Years of the Theramin

And this is one of more melodic uses to which it has been put, with a suitable 'outer space' origin to the tune. When Lenin was first shown this instrument in 1920 he got a tune out of it, 'The Skylark' by Glinka, Leo Theramin toured classical music halls with the instrument in the 1920's but was brought down by the Wall St Crash, further disasters ensued, which made him end up working for the Soviet Military. Leo Theramin died aged 97 in 1993, and was playing this instrument to the end of his life.