Standpipe Politics with Smartie and Moron (4)

 

 

Hi Moron, wuh become o’ you?

I en see you in donkey years

And since de last time dat we talk

Another thirty-love appear.

 

Well Smartie, I went down Guyana

With a few black belly sheep

Cause I hear they doing better down dey

Cause they getting more meat.

 

Wait, wait, Moron,

What is that you say?

Wuh, if black belly sheep eating meat,

Then cows should bray.

 

Not that kind of meat, Smartie,

I meaning grass.

Down dey de grass real plentiful

And de sheep does grow fast.

 

Cause yuh know Guyana real big

And got a lot of land

So I thought I would get away from here

And work a different plan.

 

So why yuh come back here, Moron,

If down dey so good?

Yuh should o’ stan’ down in Guyana;

I really feel yuh should. 

 

  

Well Moron, since we last talk,

There was another 30-love

Cause you know back in 2018 it was like

It did come from above.

 

Judgment pon dem devils

For all the evil dey do

But I en sure dat we is all de better

Tell me, do you?

 

Smartie, I uses to tell you

That we does only change faces

And if you really examine politics,

In all o’ dum is evil traces.

 

Dum is start out real good

And mek you feel real smart

And den all of a sudden, bruggadown!

Duh does brek yuh heart.

 

When I hear bout de 30-love

I tought bout de tennis on the lawn

And den I hear somebody suh,

All de D’s gone!

 

And all I could say was,

Yuh mean dah happen again?

Not even the respectable Bishop

Could avoid de pain?

 

Cause don’t forget the PM seh

He was de party’s conscience

So wid de Bishop gone from the party,

Dah’s conscience absence.

 

  

Yes Moron, uh doan hear he,

He probably went back to de church

Cause in dey he could lick he wounds

And heal he hurts.

 

But why yuh come back

If you was doing so well?

I would o’ expect yuh to stay in Guyana

For a longer spell.

 

Well Smartie, since yuh ask,

I was forced to come back

Since uh hear black belly exportation

Run off de track.

 

How yuh mean run off de track?

Duh does go by train?

I hearing ‘bout all kinds of excuses

But that one real lame.

 

You is say by name and nature,

And that I could never change

But I will tell you something, Smartie,

You real strange. 

 

Run off de tracks is a saying

Meaning tings en going as plan

It en nuttin to do with train transportation

Fuh black belly rams.

 

Yuh see, de breeding slow down

And dey can’t export

Cause dey would deplete the numbers

And dat ain’t sport.

 

They have to build back up

And get de breeding gine again

Plus, I also read in de Barbados Today

Animal husbandry wane.

 

De young people en intrested

And it too risky

Cause all yuh want is a little bad weather

And the project is history.

 

I see whey yuh coming from

But Moron, you gine give up too

Cause food importation seem to be

The more popular view?

 

Not as long as God gih me breath

And trust me, dah is true,

I aim, God being my helper, to do

All uh can do.

 

  

Moron, I want we to end

Just like we begin

Cause you know better than most

Politics is my ting.

 

Thirty-love when you did hey,

Thirty-love when you did away,

You tink another thirty-love coming up?

Wuh you say?

 

Smartie, dis is what I tink:

Thorne will end up like Atherley

Cause Thornie cahn even win up there

In dah St. John constituency. 

 

So, just like Atherley lost

Thornie will lose too

Cause both of them change constituency

And dis is a wrong ting to do.

 

Best chance, I tell you,

Is stay wid who put in you,

Don’t change constituency or cross de floor;

Dah’s my humble view?

 

Moron, old fella, well said,

De PM got this sown up tight

And unless a few more from de BLP defect,

Any single MP will lose de fight.

 

 

 

Atherley then Thornie

And after Thornie, who next?

I must confess that I don’t have a clue

But de situation got me vex.

 

 

 

Cause we need a replacement

But I can’t see any,

The so-called DLP terribly fragmented

And is a multi-party.

 

Dah’s more support for de BLP

Thus, another thirty-nil

And uh really fed up with the BLP

Cause I had muh fill.

 

Dum is bare talk dese days

And passing nuff foolish laws

And de most vulnerable suffering so much

Duh grabbing at every straw.

 

  

So, Moron, dah is all fuh now,

You can have the last say,

Uh glad this standpipe still standing here

So we could meet today.

 

Same here, Smartie,

All de best wid de black belly sheep

And I trust somebody come up wid a plan

To feed all o’ we.

 

Stewart Russell © November 16, 2025

Parody of Freedom

 

 

A misrepresentation:

The freedom of the world,

It is a parody for certain

And pathetically absurd.

 

Highly prejudicial,

Like a pseudo freedom

Guaranteed to the powerful

But to the weak, seldom.

 

A parody of sorts

A misrepresentation,

Worldly freedom really and truly

Is a domination.

 

Domination of the weak

By the very strong

And oppression of the poor

All day long.

 

 

A selective freedom

That’s clearly not for all

And the law supposedly in support,

Deliberately stalled.

 

Justice delayed

And very often denied,

And the freedom of the weak

Brushed aside.

 

A pseudo freedom

That is no freedom at all,

This dollars-and-cents freedom

I absolutely appall.

 

 

A parody of justice

Certainly, for the poor,

The law might be in their favour

But can they afford…

 

The price of a lawyer

To fight their case

So that that which they spend

Do not go to waste?

 

 

What good is freedom

If it is out of reach

And the law seems powerless

To mend the breach?

 

Out of poor man’s reach

Accessible to the rich

And of course, to them skilled

In deviant politics…

 

Where money talks

And power overwhelms

And from corrupt leadership

All evil stems.

 

Where God is omitted

And the moral code

Has been drastically changed

From that of old.

 

 

Freedom for the rich

Freedom for the powerful

But a parody, I must reiterate,

For the vulnerable.

 

A misrepresentation

When it comes to the poor

And for the most vulnerable

It is a closed door.

 

Still enslaved

With no cash in hand

At least not enough to purchase

Freedom on demand.

 

Stewart Russell © February 20, 2025

 

Let Us Agree

 

 

Let us agree to disagree agreeably

When we can’t see eye to eye,

Whether it be politics, religion or civics

On our friendship we should rely.

 

It is of no use to lose a friendship

Over some argument

No matter how much you disagree

Or how much another’s view you resent.

 

We must cherish our friendships

If they really matter to us

And let the end of the argument

Signal the end of the fuss.

 

 

Disagreements need not be disagreeable

If you see what I mean

Although I have observed some

In which disputers actually screamed.

 

From a discussion to an actual noise,

From “greeing-in” to “greeing-out”

And one knew that this would happen

When they both began to shout.

 

“One convinced against his own opinion

Is of the same opinion still.”

Winning an argument and losing a friend

Is to my mind a horrible pill.

 

If that’s your version of winning

I beseech you, make a hasty retreat,

If disagreement must spoil a friendship

Then winning must also be defeat.

 

Therefore,

 Let us agree to disagree agreeably

When we can’t see eye to eye,

Whether it be politics, religion or civics

On our friendship we should rely.

 

Stewart Russell © October 20, 2020

 

 

Owning and Owing

 

 

 

Just an ‘n’ missing…

Not much you would say

But the former determines

The latter’s pay.

 

One owns what he has

The other still owes

And as to when he’ll own it

Only God knows.

 

They work together

Usually one for the other

And the relationship between

Causes one to bother.

 

 

Owning lives in the heights

Sometimes Owing too,

But one owns what he has

While Owing’s rent is due.

 

Owing may get a chance

To own a piece of the rock

But it’ll take him many years

If his hope is not blocked.

 

Just an ‘n’ missing?

That’s what you thought,

Owning is living quite high

But Owing is distraught.

 

Owing makes a move

And gets into politics

But Owning was there before

And has more tricks.

 

 

 

Whereupon

Owing still owes

And when he will get out of it…

Only God knows.

 

He’s a grassroot politician

And there he remains

Except for a few exceptions

Not much does he gain.

 

Re those exceptions,

There may be an insertion

Where the ‘n’ is dropped in

And thus, transformation.

 

This may last

Or the ‘n’ may drop out

And Owning is back to Owing

With even less clout.

 

 

 

Two distinct people

Are Owning and Owing

And in between these two

You and I struggling.

 

Owning and Owing

Last seen in the bank:

One lending, one borrowing,

Therein is their rank.

 

Stewart Russell © September 13, 2021

 

Rhetoric and Reality

 

Aristotle: 384-322 BC 

Rhetoric and reality are not similar

I am sure you will agree

But we somehow confuse the two

And this rather frequently.

 

Reality is extremely observable

While rhetoric is not

Yet, we set more store by the latter

Than by what is truly our lot.

 

Rhetoric wins elections

And accomplishes great sales

While on the back end of the oration

Reality shows it has failed.

 

When reality requires an explanation

Rhetoric usually complies

And in its readily persuasive way

That reality it denies.

 

 

Rhetoric holds greatest prominence

In politics and the church,

Here you will find its staunchest adherents

And a multiplicity of so-called experts.

 

Rhetoric trumps reality

With the promise that things will change

And if that change does not come about

You must not think it strange.

 

It will come if you believe

Though often none can tell when,

It is just a matter of your believing

And it will happen right then.

 

Rhetoric is the reality

It is more dominant than the real

And fools do suffer intensely

Each time that rhetoric fails.

 

 

However, that does not really matter

Since a promise is comfort to a fool

And rhetoric is the best teacher

You would find in many a school.

 

Let me hastily conclude this matter

And I will end it on this note,

When it comes to rhetoric and reality

Rhetoric will capture most votes.

 

Stewart Russell © January 13, 2021

 

In My Opinion

“In my opinion”…

A phrase that is very overworked,

“This is how I see it”

And the relevant information skirts.

Bill Bullard was a politician

He would have known a lot of this

And perhaps in the American Senate

Many such opinions dismissed.

He too might have used the phrase

I guess from time to time

No doubt with an aim to impress

His opinion on someone’s mind.

It sounds particularly scholarly

But it really carries no weight

Unless of course the erudite speaker

Is a colossus from some state.

But both high and low I note

Use it with great emphasis

And so too the educated and otherwise

To show something one has missed.

It matters not the topic

Be it politics, religion or philosophy,

“In my opinion” is a clincher

Usually void of modesty.

It should put an end to the argument

It’s information coming to hand,

It’s like the ace in a pack of cards

It’s the pearl in the oyster clam.

“This is really how I see it

This is just my humble opinion,

I am not asking you to agree with me

After all I am not officialdom.”

“I don’t know much about the topic

I haven’t done much research

But I too have an opinion.”

It could be in parliament or at church.

I have an opinion about your opinion

And this is just my opinion,

Your opinion in my opinion

Lacks both understanding and reason.

In the final analysis my friend

Opinion is rather superficial,

It’s the lowest form of human knowledge

Whether it comes from a novice or official.

Opinion requires no accountability

And no understanding, Bill Bullard states,

So building upon someone’s opinion

Is really playing around with fate.

You had better know for yourself

By investigating the matter thoroughly

Then take my uninformed advice

And submit your findings guardedly.

An opinion is just what it is

An assumption, a feeling or speculation,

It may be the result of composite opinions

Or simply a person’s own suspicion.

I too have had my opinions

They have changed time and time again

And I have no doubt if you’d be honest

Your experience has been the same.

So spare me your opinion

Give me some hard facts instead,

Your opinion is I might be sleeping

But I might just be lying in bed.

One opinion is worth a hundred

They are like spinning top in mud,

However, this is just my opinion

If you can do better, you should.

Stewart Russell © March 2019

“Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge.

It requires no accountability, no understanding.”

Bill Bullard