Category Archives: politics

October 9, 2018 · 3:26 pm

Same Old – A poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Manifesto – Word of the Day

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Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of the Communist Manifesto, published circa February 1848, and which sparked many political and economic debates, and not just a few revolutions.

 

Same Old

It was that kind of day,
when I could finally speak paradox,
between the corner store
and the park.
It was there I heard
the suit encased optimist’s manifesto,
from the podium,
“yadayadayadayadayadayadayada”
with only a momentary pause.
The man behind me asked,
“Can you splain that mate?”
And, I said, “Sure, it goes like this;
lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies,
but it came out as,
paradise, free bread, equality,
love and peace.”
Then the woman in front said,
“You know, we already have all these things,
they’re a manifesto of your heart.”

©Paul Vincent Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

26 Comments

Filed under Free Verse, poem, poetry, politics

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October 2, 2018 · 3:32 pm

One Day Soon

Atone – Word of the Day

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Christine Blasey Ford, who dared to call out not just a man, not just a powerful man, but a presumptuous power culture. Mother, aunt, sister, cousin, friend, colleague, neighbour … we’re all connected.

 

 

One Day Soon

She is every woman from every place,
from factory floor to research lab,
she has been assaulted everywhere,
from home to conflict zones,
she’s been invaded and degraded,
tables turned
now offender,
victim on trial.
Liar, Liar, crucify her,
bay the kangaroo court of power,
the ancient privileged cyclops
who laugh and jeer,
and feel supreme,
yet deep down,
driven by a fear that,
just maybe,
one day
they must atone.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

20 Comments

Filed under community, life, philosophy, poetry, politics, Whistleblowing

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September 23, 2018 · 4:23 pm

Not For Me

Obsequious – Word of the Day

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Photo: http://www.sexysingular.com

Not For Me

What possessed you?
Did you think I’d be impressed if you grovelled?
That I wouldn’t wonder where your dignity lay?
Surely, lower that the soles of my shoes
which you readily moistened with your lips.
What chance respect now?
Now that you’ve declared an unreserved submission
that was never once desired,
least of all by me?
What hope is there for you, for me, for all the world?
And end to it!
Arise and speak with me
of needs and wants, hopes and dreams,
of far away lands and desperate sorrows,
of grief, of love, of sparrows.
And let us look each other in the eye and know
that we can trust our truths
and hold each other’s dreams
and keep our shoes dry,
lest in turn, we own each other.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul,

pvcann.com

12 Comments

Filed under life, love, mindfulness, poetry, politics, Spirituality, Work

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September 16, 2018 · 3:49 pm

Question

Imperious – Word of the Day

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Darth Vader, an example of imperiousness, and one of many fictional characters who exemplify arrogance, control, dictatorial behaviour, tyrannical behaviour and so on.

 

Question

Strange,
how the small minded always get on a high horse,
and how the over-inflated so easily shrink,
or how the mindless swallow empty verbiage.
And all the while,
the world suffering the arrogance of
hollow gesture and the prattle of meaninglessness.
But who am I that I should blame another,
when I should, with all integrity,
reflect on my own imprint on life,
and make amends?

©Paul Vincent Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

23 Comments

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September 13, 2018 · 2:57 pm

Divine Humour

Peddler – Word of the Day

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Source: flickr.com  A street peddler in Istanbul.

 

Divine Humour

The smell of sulphur fills the air,
bell, book and candle won’t help you now,
the devil incarnate roams the streets,
seductively peddling false hope, old ways, more tax.
Been like that since the ancient of days laughed and said
“Let them try democracy.”

©Paul Vincent Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

8 Comments

Filed under Alt-Religion, history, life, Philosophy/Theology, poetry, politics, Quadrille

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September 11, 2018 · 2:33 pm

Love Doesn’t Need A Cape

Hero – Word of the Day

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Photo: blogs.msf.org

 

Love Doesn’t Need A Cape

The ancient diesel generator thrums
solitary sentinel in the night.
And yet it is peaceful,
the rebels have moved on
to torment other outposts of misery
in this vast wilderness.
The thrum tells that the hospital is at work,
late into the night
as it has these past months,
or is it years?
I’ve lost count in the blur.
The team will work till they drop,
as they always do
in this sea of sorrow.
Trying to restore life
to staunch the loss of future,
that landmines and bullets have stolen,
cauterising love
before it turns to despondency.
There is no telephone booth in this village,
love doesn’t need a cape.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

25 Comments

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September 5, 2018 · 3:31 pm

Plush Opinions

Pontificate – Word of the Day

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Plush Opinions

Such a beautiful armchair,
fit for a royal,
stately,
sitting in this velvet throne,
jaw set against the world,
eyes righteous.
From this regal center
you rail against
everything that affects your realm
of small suburbia,
ever moralising
from cigarettes to popes,
drowning everyone.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

24 Comments

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August 25, 2018 · 3:52 pm

Escape

Monochromatic – Your Daily Word

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Image: Monochromatic Wallpaper – cdn.wallpapersafari.com

 

Escape

The screen was black and white though
eventually it faded to grey,
a sea of obsequious sorrow,
that vision of the ministry of love.
And, in my child’s mind,
I wanted to break out.
I deviated,
rebelled,
seeking to escape the doldrums
of melancholic existence and
predictable furrows.
Such frowns would imprison me,
but for the adventure of divergent colour,
thrumming wildly in my heart.

©Paul Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

20 Comments

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August 23, 2018 · 3:07 pm

Free Spirits

Renegade – Word of the Day

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Ani Pachen (1933 – 2002), better known as the Warrior Nun, a Tibetan freedom fighter. She was captured by the Chinese army in 1959 and held until 1981 – 21 years in prison, she was 48 yrs old. She continued to oppose Chinese occupation of Tibet and took part in rallies and protests, fleeing to India in 1989 because she was facing arrest yet again.

Free Spirits

We apprehended futility and held it as our own,
never stopping to think of consequence.
Logic held no sway,
there was no song,
the soil of our hearts rooted no doctrine,
myths and legends were our truths.
We slept in the open and spoke in ravines,
ate haute cuisine from tins,
punished our fantasies and banished our doubts
as we passed through Falkirk, Culloden, Lexington,
and struggled at Eureka,
countered in Prague,
threw out shoes in Manila and turned orange in Kiev.
We played with protest,
shouldered riot and uprising,
captured yet not imprisoned,
we remained free spirits held by passion,
undaunted, determined.
Our very breath was inviolate,
this was our victory,
to be present.

©Paul Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

27 Comments

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August 19, 2018 · 3:09 pm

Spring Is In The Air

Zealous – Word of the Day

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Photo: dailynewshungary.com

One person’s liberator is another persons dictator. The end of National Socialism in 1945 (well, temporary end) saw the liberating Soviet army take control of Eastern Europe. But the Soviet proved to be as unpalatable as the Nazis, and hence a number of attempted coups and uprisings, especially the one in Hungary 23 October – 10 November 1956, where a student protest turned into a people’s uprising. The students were indeed zealous for change, and their zeal inspired others to rise up with them. The uprising was sadly crushed by the overwhelming might of the Soviet army. October the 23 is now a national holiday in Hungary.

 

Spring Is In The Air

Khaki is not my colour,
I crave pastels, boldness, whites.
Steel grey is so depressing,
like never ending winter,
the threat of cold death,
faces lost,
love buried.
Truth is everywhere, that’s how
Newspeak lobotomizes.
Apparatchiks, whose fetid lies,
like open sewers,
Are a stench and a stain
on flesh and blood,
like bruises and broken bones
their words crush souls.
Your flags do not warm me,
they are but a noose,
a suicide note to history.
But we stand together
preferring death to misery,
no acquiescent autumn
rather, to be spring
to be fertile possibility.
So we wave at you and smile,
a smile your scowl cannot quell.
Our solitary prayer,
that your bullets will be poppies
and your tanks be doves.
That you will at last surrender,
not to us,
but to your true selves,
to humanity,
and kiss your distorted “I” goodbye.

©Paul Cannon

 

Paul,

pvcann.com

27 Comments

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