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

 

Don’t Have A Clue

 

 

I don’t have a clue,

I really don’t, you know,

And this in spite of the authorities

That tell me so.

 

All these trouble spots,

Propaganda and innuendo

And ignorant as I am,

I still don’t know.

 

Rights being trampled

Children being deprived,

Third world countries suffering

As big countries connive.

 

Propaganda sweet

Bringing others to their feet

And we ignorantly repeating

What we are told to repeat.

 

Arguing and parroting

What we do not know

And stupid enough to chant,

I told you so.

 

As though you know

All of the ins and outs

When in your sober moments

Like me, you are in doubt.

 

 

Russia and Ukraine-

We have that down-packed!

Just give me a hearing

And I’ll tell you the facts.

 

Let me send you a link

Or a YouTube track

Or better still, at your fingertips,

Here is a WhatsApp.

 

Here is another one,

Another and another,

Telling all you need to know

On this hotspot matter.

 

Russia is a big bully

Just like the USA

And their singular intention

Is to make the Ukraine pay.

 

Like deviant children

Biting the hand that feeds

And forgetting how Russia

Had supplied their needs.

 

Ukraine on the other hand

Flirting with others

And siding with other countries

To cause Russia a bother.

 

Just something I’ve heard

But I don’t have a clue

And I have a strong feeling,

Neither do you.

 

 

Then there is Trump,

Biden’s predecessor

Where Biden is the President

But Trump, the aggressor.

 

Bajans will be voting

Come November 2024

For concerning the US of A

No country knows more.

 

Thousands of miles away

And they know a lot,

They can fill in you or anybody

On any conspiracy plot.

 

They talk like they know

But don’t have a clue

And again, I have this feeling

That neither do you.

 

 

Now a narrow strip

Bearing just over two million

Has become another hotspot

And a colossal problem.

 

Lock on to the news

And follow the views

And notice as you observe,

Everybody has a clue.

 

Or, maybe not so,

But they must take a side

Usually based on a prejudice

That makes them decide.

 

Where information is thin

They ride on the past

And to make the outdated relevant,

Is their task.

 

As Israel is God’s chosen

They must be right,

All others had better line up

Or suffer their plight.

 

But who started the fight?

The one that responds,

Technically, while this is true,

Of it, we are not fond.

 

Conflict resolution

Is not easily resolved

And this, of course, is because

High stakes are involved.

 

 

Like Russia and Ukraine

We have Israel and Hamas,

Resolving who’s right or wrong

Is a difficult task.

 

Is there enough info

To form a solid view?

To be very honest with you

I don’t have a clue.

 

From overseas hotspots

Let’s come on home,

Things should be different here

Since it’s our zone.

 

But alas, it’s no different,

At least, for me,

For the forest is blocked out

On account of the trees.

 

A simple simulation

Outrageously gone south

And as many views emerging

As they are mouths.

 

A press-conference

That was rather vague

 And Barbadians all around

Are still in a daze.

 

 

An Education Reform launch

That promised the world

Followed only a few days later

By the actual absurd.

 

A desperate attempt

To explain the irrational;

A serious philosophical ailment

Has overtaken our people.

 

A deliberate move

To jettison the fundamentals

So that Barbados will be perceived

As all out liberals.

 

So many fires are going,

So many issues to resolve

And neither the leaders nor the led

Sense the gravity involved.

 

I don’t have a clue

And I dare say, neither do you,

Neither abroad nor at home,

Not a single clue!

 

Stewart Russell © October 12, 2023

 

Simplify the Complex

 

 

What a weird theme!

That is for you to say

But ever since the COVID advent

We have lost our way.

 

“We are following the science”

The authorities constantly argue

But they that oppose also claim

“We are following it too.”

 

Both are following the science

And I am terribly confused

For the science I am hearing from both

Is of contrasting views.

 

It’s time to simplify this thing

For people like you and me

Who earnestly want to protect

Our friends and family.

 

 

When they are myriad opinions

The real news becomes lost,

So-called alternative facts surge

And only views come across.

 

The major is on the minors

The minors overrule the major,

Talk is the futile activity

With little significant labour.

 

Everybody has an opinion

Though as subjective as can be,

But of the objective and irrefutable-

The less of this we see.

 

Some say that the COVID virus

Was created in a lab,

Now that would give man god-status

And that would be very bad.

 

A virus is a form of life

And man cannot create life

So, to say that man created a virus

Is nothing short of strife.

 

Some say it originated in Wuhan

So, what can we do with that?

Even that appears to be an opinion

And an opinion is not a fact.

 

Much talk about the vaccine

To take or not to take,

Those that are for think it is effective

Those against believe it is fake.

 

Some say it is not a vaccine,

It does not guarantee immunity

While others say it’s an extra layer

In the fight against the enemy.

 

One thing that can’t be refuted

Is that we have a real pandemic,

And as the number of cases daily rise

There is the incidence of panic.

 

 

That COVID-19 is causing death

Only a fool would deny,

COVID-19 is as real as real can be

Just like mosquitoes and flies.

 

So, let’s set the record straight

And simplify the complex,

Let us straight talk about COVID

Regardless of who gets vexed.

 

It is almost two years now

And it is going nowhere fast,

Many have been the COVID victims

And many have also passed.

 

Around there is much dislocation

And many are unemployed,

And the attempts to thwart COVID

Are constantly being foiled.

 

It appears from where I sit

That the vaccine offers some respite,

The data show this relevant fact

Regarding this COVID fight.

 

So, it comes right down to a choice:

Whether to be ill or to die,

That the ill still has a fighting chance

I surely would not deny.

 

Fifty-one COVID deaths so far

Not one of these was vaccinated,

This strengthens my vaccine choice

Even if I am ill-fated.

 

For my wife sake I took it

When I was even less convinced,

So far so good, as I have heard say,

No repercussions since.

 

Still can happen, you’d likely say

But for me, it’s one day at a time,

Let’s wait and see and to conclude,

I won’t overload my mind.

 

Simplify the complex

Let us go with what we know:

Mask up, sanitize and physical distance

And a thought for others show.

 

Stewart Russell © September 6, 2021

 

Isn’t It Strange?

 

 

Isn’t it strange how we ignore life’s manual

And still expect life to work?

Isn’t it strange how we berate its Author

And trust in so-called experts?

 

Isn’t it strange how we shut Him out

And still expect His blessings to come in?

Isn’t it strange how we pulled the plug

And wonder why our light is dim?

 

Isn’t it strange that our schools are in a mess

And we wonder why this is so?

Isn’t it strange that we spend so much

And still have so little to show?

 

Isn’t it strange that we do everything right

And everything still goes wrong?

Isn’t it strange that we have the best minds

And our infrastructure is falling down?

 

Isn’t it strange that we know so much

And nothing that we know seems to work?

More Doctor This and more Doctor That

And more money-spending on experts?

 

Isn’t it strange we pour more money after bad

And our returns are growing less?

Isn’t it strange that we put our heads together

And still can’t correct the mess?

Isn’t it strange that even with the Internet

And the many writers there that exhort

We are still running around in circles

As though there is still one book short?

 

Isn’t it strange that this book has the answers

But we deliberately look elsewhere?

Isn’t it strange that we once consulted it

But these days we just don’t care?

  

Isn’t it strange that as we become more scholarly

There is a resulting proportion of misery?

Isn’t it strange that we say we are getting better

When in fact, we are growing worse exponentially?

 

 

Isn’t it strange that all day long

We sever the lifeline that is being extended

Because we are afraid that if we don’t

The earthly authorities would be greatly offended.

 

O, we might be sanctioned and vilified

Like many other countries that are marginalized,

In this gigantic ocean with its huge, towering ships

Our little Moses might just get capsize.

 

There is bully-ism all around,

The apparent weak must genuflect to the seeming strong

But when God our Creator makes His demands

We ostensibly think that He has to be wrong.

 

Isn’t it strange?

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020