What’s That You Said?

 

 

Is it mathematical correct

To speak of the bigger half?

Because every time I hear it

I am inclined to laugh.

 

And how ‘fully aware’, I ask,

Can a person actually become?

‘Very fully aware’, I am told

Recently made a home run.

 

 

Sometimes I have to ask,

What’s that you said

Because the way it came over

Was clearly above my head.

 

You see, I am not as bright

As some of you believe

Since the qualifications you have

I am yet to receive.

 

I was listening to a comedian

Just here recently

And what he said on the show

Sounded incredulously.

 

The show was in two sessions

Separated by a break,

There was quite a bit of humour

But this one took the cake.

 

 

“This half,” the comic said,

“Will not be as long as the first half,”

And with that I must confess

I didn’t even laugh.

 

Whether he was serious or not

I really could not have told,

I knew he was a stand-up comic

And such is their natural mode.

 

I was not fully aware

If he understood what he said,

After all, he was no mathematician,

Just a comedian instead.

 

The one that really jumped me

Was ‘very fully aware’,

I had never heard it before

At school or anywhere.

 

Hence, how ‘fully aware’

Can any person be?

Can ‘fully aware’ be compared?

If you know please tell me.

 

Perhaps it can be

Given the person who said it,

‘Very fully aware’ that person said,

And they were extremely literate.

 

I used the word they

So, do not bother to guess,

Whether woman or man,

Please let it rest.

 

I would say, however,

It was an erudite politician

And that is why I decided

To give this one a mention.

 

Well, just those two for now

So, do have a good night

And all things being equal

Everything will be all right.

 

 

What’s that you said?

All things being equal?

Whenever will that equation be?

Well, that’s another puzzle.

 

Stewart Russell © January 24, 2023

 

I Wish I Was White

I wish I was white!

Why was I born black?

Why must I be made to suffer

By being constantly attacked?

What’s wrong with black

That makes it so repulsive?

Why can’t black be accepted

And be allowed to freely live?

Why is black a curse

And so obviously demonised?

What is there about black

That Whites must criticise?

I wish I was white

For then, I would be free,

Free to move up and down

Like the many whites I see.

Free of being targeted

Like black can’t be nice,

Free of being accused

Of every conceivable vice.

Free to pursue a livelihood

Like whites so easily do

And accomplish my dreams

And what is my legal due.

Free of police harassment

And the political abuse

That makes me good for a vote

But after that, just refuse.

I wish I was white

Cause being black is too tough,

For whites, it’s a breeze;

They get more than enough.

At thrice the white’s effort

Blacks achieve far less,

It doesn’t matter the qualifications

Being white is the best.

If anything will change

It will take both pigments together

Because blacks on their own

Will cause little bother.

In the meantime, though,

I wish I was white

Because it seems a long time coming

Before we Blacks see the light.

Stewart Russell © June 2020