Internet Dependency

 

 

Can you remember a time

When there was no Internet?

When there were long queues to battle

And patrons were vexed?

 

Especially on paydays

When the queues were extra long

And you took time off from work

Or when lunchtime bound?

 

I remember as a teacher

Early each payday morning

I would be standing outside the bank

Awaiting its opening.

 

On being dispatched

I would quickly head to school

In my attempt to be an example

In not breaking my rule.

 

The rule to be punctual

That I had taught my pupils

Since I felt to be chronically unpunctual

Was also an evil.

 

Do not shoot me down,

That was just how I felt

And regarding people and their time

That’s how I dealt.

 

 

 

But the time did come

When the Internet arrived

And today in most business ventures

Online is the drive.

 

Cheques are moving out

And we do business online

And this saves not only a lot of effort

But also saves time.

 

Less paper and stamps

As letters turn to emails,

And now we chat on WhatsApp, etc.,

Without fail.

 

 

 

We order from overseas

And we pay online

And when everything goes right

Parcels arrive on time.

 

Online text, voice and video

Most of us enjoy,

Not to mention the many gadgets

We now have as toys.

 

Little ones and even adults

Exercise their thumbs

As they play games on the Internet

For their daily runs.

 

 

 

And when Wi-Fi drops out

We are the proverbial fish

That wriggles and squirms around

With a singular wish.

 

Oh, for that water of life

That we call the Internet!

When it is up and running properly

All our needs are met.

 

Since we have at our disposal

The World-Wide-Web,

Books are decreasing alarmingly

As like spiders we’re fed.

 

 

 

Whatever we want to know

We can now turn to AI,

Artificial Intelligence is the bomb

Whether truth or lie.

 

We don’t have to think,

AI can do everything for us

And soon AI will become the god

We believe in and trust.

 

Don’t make light, I adjure you,

Of the preceding verse,

It is surely where we are headed

And for what we thirst. 

 

 

 

It is a dependency

That is becoming more stark

And sometimes I can’t help but feel

It is getting dark.

 

Can you remember a time

When there was no Internet?

Well, there are still long queues online

And patrons are vexed.

 

Stewart Russell © September 29, 2025

 

An ABC Observation

 

 

Here is a little poem

I just came up with

Though I am making no claims

If you catch my drift.

 

I was saying the ABC:

Aka, the alphabet,

When suddenly it occurred to me

The sounds we get.

 

Phonics we call it

Meaning letter sounds

And from just twenty-six letters

Several abound. 

 

Eight sounds I got

From twenty-six letters,

I am sure if given the chance

You’d do better.

 

Three stand-alone

If you see what I mean,

Three letters could not fit under

The other five themes.

 

I’d let you guess

But how would I know?

Where in this particular poem

Could you show? 

  

With that said

Let me say what they are:

These three stand-alone letters

Are H, O and R.

 

From the three singles

To the only double:

If you said I, I would ask you Y-

What an odd couple!

 

Five of them gone,

Twenty-one to follow,

I trust this is not too much info

For you to swallow.

 

Two categories of three:

The first is A, J and K,

Say them slowly and repeatedly

And you’ll hear the ‘A’. 

 

You can stop now

There is more to come,

You cannot ramble on forever

You’re not that dumb.

 

The second class of three

Are Q, U and W,

Repeat these over and over

Until you hear the ‘U’.

 

The only way to do this

Is to stop saying A, J and K,

Now you can practise Q, U and W;

It’s the only way.

 

Here is a set of five

That uses the È accent,

Pronounced like our Bajan ‘eh’:

Full of intent. 

  

F, L, M, N, S, X

Hear the initial sound!

If you did not, you’re totally deaf

Or your ears are on wrong.

 

Just nine letters more:

All in category eight,

These all carry the ‘E’ sound-

Isn’t the ABC great?

 

 B, C, D and E

G, P, T, V and Z:

The phonetic sounds of the ABC

In its entirety.  

    

Twenty-six letters

I’ve known all this time

And only a few moments ago

This came to mind.

 

And what is more,

I used to be a teacher

And believe me, I only just noticed

This phonetic feature. 

 

I have a strong feeling

That you just did too

So, to me you should be grateful:

Aren’t you?

 

You might be saying

That I have nothing to do

But I dare say if you are reading this,

The same applies to you.

 

Stewart Russell © September 21, 2025

 

Real Mathematics

 

 

One and one is two

And two and two is six,

If you were my teacher

I’d be getting “licks”,

 

But yet you can read

That is what you’d say

And particularly so

Especially in this day.

 

I was a teacher too

And still in my right mind

But now I’m getting old

This happens all the time.

 

I am assuming

You understand English

So that what is in verse one

Is not simply my wish.

 

Hence we’ll move on a little

In our Mathematics

And hopefully as you read

I’ll get you out this fix.

 

No doubt you are thinking

I am kind of mixed up,

I am old but not that old

So you are out of luck.

 

 

One and two is three

And three and three is nine,

If you add correctly

It will be right each time.

 

No I am not mad

And neither am I blind

And neither is new mathematics

Messing with my mind.

 

If verses one and seven

Were taken just as written

I assure you my friend

You’d see your problem.

 

Take lines one and two

Of verses one and seven,

Write them down in figures

And easily do the problem.

 

 

One from two leaves two

And five from six leaves six,

Depending on what you mean

This could be a fix.

 

If it were a case of eating

That might work out well

But in another case

It may be difficult to sell.

 

The items may be around

But in a different form,

Five dead sheep and one alive

Six is still that norm.

 

Remove the dead sheep

And the answer would be one

But if the opposite were true

Not a sheep would be gone.

 

 

I hope you are not confused

Or even experiencing strife,

This is real mathematics

And you have to factor in life.

 

They tell me I am mad

And my thing is so weird

But if you still don’t understand

Your thinking is impaired.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2018

 

Stop Immediately!

 

 

If I heard a command

To stop immediately

I would expect the speaker to be

Someone of authority?

 

For example: a policeman

Or military personnel,

A school principal or teacher

Or some warning bell.

 

It’s an urgent command

Implying serious fallout

And this, if the recipient persists,

Would be without doubt.

 

Who would dare disobey

Someone with a gun

Unless he was fast enough

A bullet to outrun?

 

So, stop immediately

Speaks to authority

And that authoritative command

Implies great urgency.

 

I saw a popular evangelist

Blow COVID-19 away

Yet this pandemic is still with us

Up to this very day.

 

His was a stop immediately

That did not materialize

Since COVID is still with us

And not even in disguise.

 

Even with children

“Stop” is losing its weight,

Far less the "immediately",

They’d rather suffer fate.

 

 

One PM to another PM

Regarding a war declaration,

“Stop immediately!” that PM said,

But without recognition.

It was like Jezebel’s prophets

When they prayed to Baal

But Baal did not hear them

So, it was to no avail.

 

The “stop immediately”

Must from a greater power come

Or else it will be meaningless

And nothing will be done.

 

Immediacy and authority

Tend to go hand in hand,

Greatest power is proportionate to

Quickest heed to command.

 

One very popular pastor

And also, another well-known one,

Combined their double anointing

To quell the LGBTQ storm.

 

Another “stop immediately”

That did not make a difference,

The LGBTQ’s effort has not lessened

And definitely not their intent.

 

 

So, a “stop immediately”,

Must be from high up on the list

Of power brokers in the world

To pull off a “cease and desist”.

 

Do note my cherished reader

I have not mentioned any names

So, read this poem as it was written

And none of us will be blamed.

 

Stewart Russell © July 31, 2023

 

None Without A Belief

 

 

An atheist and an agnostic

Stopped to talk one day

And the following, my friend,

Is what they had to say.

 

Asked the atheist of the agnostic

“What do you believe?”

“Only what I now know

And by nature, what I’ve received.”

 

“So, you don’t believe in God?”

The atheist prodded.

“I don’t know whether there is one.”

To this, the atheist applauded.

 

 

“Clearly there is none.”

The atheist advanced,

Figuring this was his opportunity

He took the offered chance.

 

“If there is a God,

He just couldn’t care,

Given all the evil around

And what we must bear.

 

If there is a God

And he actually cares,

Then he is powerless to change it.

Now that’s a real fear!

 

So, for me, there’s no God.

I can’t believe there is one

And the way you talk, Agnostic,

I am not alone.”

“Hold up just a minute!

I never said that.

Actually, I do not know we can know

Which one is fact.

 

It can’t be truly known

Whether there is a God or not.

In fact, I believe with all my heart

Christians have lost the plot.”

 

“So, you don’t believe in God?”

The atheist query again.

“Re a definitive position,” says the agnostic,

I respectfully abstain.

 

“So, what do you believe?”

It was the turn of the agnostic.

“Perhaps you are more assured than I

And more than a skeptic.”

 

“What is there to believe

Except all that one can see?

Nature is all that one can see

And nature is all there be.

 

 

I believe in nature,

An everyday teacher is she.

There’s nothing beyond Mother Nature,

That’s all we need to see.

 

You’re right, I am not a skeptic

And I have no need to be.

Mother Nature supplies the answers,

Any moron can see.

 

You don’t know what to believe

But I most surely do.

There is no God for me

And there is no God for you.”

 

“You can decide that for you

But not also for me.

I will make my own decisions

Based on what I see.

 

As an agnostic, I sit on the fence

And maybe one day I’ll change

But given your fickle presumptions,

I find you rather strange.

 

I’d rather be an agnostic

Than to be an atheist any day

And in my humble opinion,

You have lost your way."

  

Non-sensical in their beliefs

Both ridicule the Christian

For believing what Christians believe

And regarding the creation.

 

But the gravity of the situation

Goes much further than this

Since concerning what ultimately matters

They both are at risk.

 

For he that will come to God

Must first believe God exists

And neither the atheist nor the agnostic

Has come around to this.

 

 

None is without a belief

Everybody has one,

Whether in God or something else,

There is a belief of some form.

 

Atheists say there is no God

Agnostics posit we cannot know,

Christians believe it ultimately matters;

God’s Word tells us so.

 

Since all are wired to believe

Why not believe God’s Word?

If right now you are reading this

I trust you have concurred.

 

Stewart Russell © September 16, 2021

 

 

What A Wonder!

 

 

I know it is easy

To go with the flow

But it is easier to swallow,

You must admit that though.

 

What am I talking ’bout

You’ll soon know,

This is just the preamble

We’ll soon begin to flow.

 

Look all around you

For a moment or so,

Think of what you see-

How much do we know?

 

 

We talk a lot

And pontificate more,

We are very bright

And very self-assured.

 

What others will never learn

We already know

And we are quick to say

“I already knew so.”

 

I have been a teacher

For much of my life

And un-teaching students

Causes most strife.

 

Especially when it was you

That led them that way,

It’s difficult to change them

On any subsequent day.

 

I look back on my teaching

And often kick myself

At the mistakes I made

And did so with stealth.

 

 

For I felt I was great

And there were few like me,

I knew so much

It was like a mystery.

  

And then I got to learn

That I didn’t know squat,

My knowledge was a dot

On a very small plot.

 

At first I was overwhelmed

At my stupidity,

That I knew so little

To me that was a mystery.

 

This was humbling

But where I needed to be

If I would ever overcome

This great difficulty.

 

I looked away from me

And I looked to God,

In a real sense I recognized

That I was a fraud.

 

Pretending to be

What I really was not

When all along

I was fixed to a spot.

 

I am just saying

God remedies such stupidity,

I thank Him today

That He did it for me.

 

 

The little I know now

Makes me so aware

That there’s much we can learn

When God we fear.

 

So my friend believe today

That God really exists

For this is the first step

To get out of your mess.

 

The mess you created

By refusing to believe

That God is the only source

Through whom truth is received.

 

Look around you again

I must reiterate,

At least one encounter with God

Is everybody’s fate.

 

 

I can’t guarantee another

This day is your day,

I am just saying

Right now He is in your way .

 

How can I tell?

Because you read the last line,

Believe my brother, my sister,

This is your time

 

Don’t push Him away

Like you have done before,

Open and let Him in

As He knocks on your door.

 

You’ll not regret it

I can guarantee you that,

He’ll make it worth you while

I know that’s a fact.

 

 

The fear of the Lord

Is the beginning of wisdom

And only in Jesus Christ

One can find salvation.

 

He is the way

And the truth and the life,

Outside of His providential care

There is nothing but strife.

 

What a wonder He chose

To give you this chance!

This wonderful opportunity

Your knowledge to enhance.

 

You don’t know Jesus

But you think you know a lot?

Well I’m just saying

Your perceived knowledge is simply rot.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2018