Oh Wow!

 

 

How this year has flown!

Three quarters now complete

And into the third we go

Even as we speak.

 

October is now upon us,

It’s crept up almost unnoticed

And most of our elaborate plans

Must now be dismissed.

 

Definitely so for me

As these days I’m a little slow,

Not that young anymore

With little get up and go.

 

Often can’t be bothered

Or the funds won’t stretch,

I am living off a pension now

And still in debt.

 

Debt to certain companies

Like BWA and BLPC,

And there is Digicel and FLOW

Plus a few luxuries.

 

There is procrastination:

That perennial thief of time

Where several things to be done

Gets done only in my mind.

 

Good intentions, of course,

Never gets anything done

But these days I prefer to walk

Since it is difficult to run.

 

 

Oh Wow!  How time flies

And how this year has flown!

And finances previously sound

Are now down to the bone.

 

Into the Christmas quarter,

Oh, how I love this time,

The money is not like it used to be

But I am feeling quite fine.

 

October, it’s all over!

That’s what it used to be,

But storms have still knocked us

In recent history.

 

It’s been a mix year so far

Already three quarters in

And many smiles have been replaced

By the expected grin.

 

Growth has taken place

But little development I see,

Fortune is still favouring the rich

And the poor, poverty.

 

Much talk about nothing

Deflecting the real issues:

The ploy of double-speak leaders

Making us more confused.

 

 

The guns are coming in

But so too is the tint

Complicating the problem bigtime,

Making citizens flinch.

 

If only we could see

The driver behind that wheel

The solution to the gun crimes

Would be a done deal.

 

Something tells me though,

The faces are well known

But the swiftness deceives the eye

Just like the year has flown.

 

I end just as I began

Re how this year has flown,

And I pray that the authorities act

On what I believe is known.

 

 

 

It’s a wow moment

And so, I say, “Oh wow!”

Leaders, stop the lot of long talk

And get to the source now!

 

Stewart Russell © September 28, 2024

 

The Real Problem

 

The real problem

Is not tackling the real problem

Where the real problem is at.

 

“If you see something

Say something”

Relative to the fact.

 

 

To whom is this counsel?

To the man in the street?

What about getting to the source?

 

The real problem

Is not about tinted windows

And “no tint” enforced.

 

 

“If you see something

Say something”

Relative to the fact.

 

Require this also

Of officials turning blind eye-

Ask Top-Cop about that.

 

 

And the Intelligentsia!

Is there any such in Bim

Or have they been silenced?

 

And if not gagged

Why this sloth re the problem

And the stark reluctance?

 

 

Who’s afraid of whom?

Is there a big bad wolf

That’s invincible and untouchable?

 

Or, more than one,

Sitting in ivory towers

Unbreachable and impregnable?

 

 

 

“If you see something

Say something”

Relative to the fact.

 

Is this just a slogan

Perhaps, a captivating cliché

Regarding some pact?

 

 

 

It is my suspicion

That the source is known

And there is very little doubt…

 

But there is reluctance

For whatever reason there is

To root it out.

 

 

“If you see something

Say something”

Relative to the fact.

 

But the real problem

Is not tackling the real problem

Where the real problem is at.

 

Stewart Russell © September 20, 2024