Connect

Sahera Patel

Have you ever felt the melodious bird song lifting up your tired wings?
Have you ever felt the power of sunbeams healing every aching limb?
Have you ever felt the celestial hymn easing the chaos in your mind?
Have you ever felt the strength of hope replacing despair with a smile?

Continue reading “Connect”

The Soldier

Eleanor

The soldier stood there as sad as a gloomy day
He didn’t know what to do at all, or what to say
He closed his eyes and wished to be home
Instead he was wishing all on his own.
As guilt flowed through his head for killing others
He tried protecting all his brothers.
Every head of the soldiers was burning hot
All of them were scared of being shot.

First World Problems

by Jem Tovey

This poem was a written as a parody of Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (itself a satire of how the broadcast media controls and subjugates Black America) and re-imagines it from a white, middle-class perspective:

You will not be able to turn on, log in and shop online at Waitrose, brother.
You will not be able to order that Little Black Number from ASOS, for your mother.
You will not be able to browse Laithwaites for vintage Bordeaux by the case,
Honestly, the broadband here’s an absolute disgrace.

You can’t post photos on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter,
Download speeds are glacial, it’s hard not to be bitter.
You can’t watch clips of Trump waxing braggadocious,
I swear this broadband connection’s simply atrocious.

There will be no mpegs of amusing RTAs,
No footage of Woodstock – Hendrix playing Purple Haze.
No GIFs, no Vines, YouTube’s always buffering,
This broadband’s providing a whole new level of suffering.

The revolution will not be on iPlayer, my connection’s too unstable.
This is the 21st century, where’s my fibre optic cable?
I’ve asked Virgin for an installation date, but they just keep on stalling.
We barely reach two megabits, this broadband is appalling.