Tinsel.

        There is a pattern on a globe floating around in the milky way, and it is a macabre picture of poverty, destitution, wars, inequality, and injustice, the main species on that globe is engaged in a suicidal war with it's ecosystems. Some are forming groups and rebelling against this insane, self inflicted bloodfest, while those in power lash out with savagery at those who dare to break the pattern. I just sit in my wee bubble and despair, so turn and look the other way, and think of verse.

 Tinsel Cities.

In the city of tinsel and bright lights
midst the playthings of the rich
just beyond the champagne bubble
out of earshot of the butterfly people
in the dark shadows where no one looks
there you’ll find poverty and destitution
dance a macabre dance of survival.
In Mammon’s city of grand illusions
where rivers of wealth feed frivolity
in its twisting dark and musty lanes
where the light of hope seldom shines
an army of the living dead sweat and toil
polishing the tinsel, changing light bulbs
refilling the champagne bottles
nothing must stop the flow of frivolity
or the butterfly people will die.

A Dream deferred.

A dream deferred, where does it go?
Is it stored in some labyrinth of the mind,
does it fade and waste away,
gone, forgotten, lost,
or does it become a burden
that weighs heavier with the years,
a burden that breaks you,
poisons your thoughts with regret
like a fog clouding your mind
in that bitter taste
of what could have been. 

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Personal.

 

       "Signal is okay but it's owned by one non-profit company (which you may or may not trust). Matrix is better. It's also end to end encrypted and open source, but you can run your own servers (and connect to other servers seamlessly) so you have much more control over your own data. There is a Glasgow based server here: https://matrix.glasgow.social"

 

        The above is a comment posted on my previous article on the messaging service Signal. I don’t profess in any way to be an authority on these matters, I just believe that we should be moving away from the big corporate giants in the communication/social media scene, with all there controls over, and storing/sharing of your data. I personally would always prefer open-source, but free open-source is always an attraction. So I would be delighted if people came forward with their opinions on where to go to escape the multinational control oriented beasts that at present seem to hold us in the palm of their hands. Pros and cons of Signal, Matrix or whatever you think would help us break that control over our data. Thanks Neil for your comment.

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Signal.

       More and more groups and individuals are starting to use "Signal" as their chosen messaging service, it's free, open-source and encrypted end to end. Your message leaves your device encrypted arrives at signal encrypted, is forwarded encrypted and then deleted at the server's end. Even the server has no idea what you sent. Making it extremely difficult for any prying eyes to see what you are chatting about. Sounds like the right method to communicate with your little group knowing that only those you send to can read what you sent. This is not a sales pitch, I just think it is worth considering in switching, for obvious reasons.

Info on Signal.

EU and Signal.

Signal, what is it.

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Cashless.

         Covid19 has certainly been a great boon to the capitalist world, it has allowed the reshaping and refinancing of the crumbling capitalist model, leaving the bill for the tax payer, and as I have said before allowed the state to tighten its grip on the population. There is another opportunity that has been seized by the financial section of capitalism, the cashless society. The wet-dream of the financial gurus, and of the state has been a cashless society. Of course not in the same sense that anarchist/communists see a cashless society.  Transactions are much easier controlled if there is no physical cash to change hands. Much more efficient without producing all that moving around securely, producing and counting  paper and coinage. There will be no place to hide, we all need to purchase in this capitalist nightmare. The cashless society would mean that every financial transaction you make would be logged and stored in a computer somewhere, place, time, amount, all stored. There to be pried into, analysed and profiled along with your other actions from that massive intrusive array of surveillance apparatus that surround us all. 

 

        The pandemic was the golden opportunity to make cash infectious, dirty, much better and safer to use contactless cards. This moves on to the next money saving exercise, the end of the ATM machines, why maintain and service all those devices if the bulk of the population just wave a card to pay for everything, plus the line that is pushed, everybody now purchases on-line. Then of course, no cash deposits or withdrawals, so why have all those people sitting around in those nice banks dotted around you cities and towns, you can do it all on line.  Of course the most vulnerable are the ones who depend most on cash in the hand, but to our financial masters, they are a negligible minority that can be taken out of any equation in their grand plans, superfluous to requirements. The cashless society is a blessing to the control freaks in state organisations and a must for the financial mafia in their drive for a totally controlled, world wide system, of financial control and manipulation. Because of the pandemic and the ensuing propaganda from the state and its coterie of parasite companions, we have allowed ourselves to quietly walk into their dream, a world under their total control. One world, one open prison, with no escape route, except revolution of course. 

 

 

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Opportunity.

         Never have the state authorities been handed such a golden opportunity to massage the population into one large submissive herd, as the covid19 pandemic offers them now. States across the planet have all seized on the opportunity and brought in directives enforced my the force of their laws, that manage and control the population, submissive obedience is now seen as the right thing to do by the vast majority of the population. A far cry from freedom, justice and democracy.
       All for our own good we are told, but the situation could have been handled much more efficiently and democratically if the communities were in control of how best to protect themselves from this disease, in conjunction with the necessary medical and scientific advisers. However, we are expected to sit back and wait for the directives from our lords and masters, all "following the science", of course. That little phrase has been swallowed and brought people to the position of not only obedience to the state, but sitting waiting for the next directive.
     They have reshaped society to their desires, and at the same time have refinanced collapsing capitalism with trillions of pounds, which you and I will be obliged to pay back to the money lenders of the financial mafia. We will pay for it in unemployment, austerity, wage freezes, slashing of working conditions, destruction of social services, increase in poverty, and homelessness, and much more, blighting the next generation of ordinary kids. That's the price tag for the reshaping of the capitalist economic system. Of course we the ordinary people could seize this opportunity to take control of our lives, communities and workplaces, and reshape society to suit the needs of all our people, dismantling the pomp, privilege and power of the wealthy parasites that blight our everyday lives.

The following from Crimethinc: 

        Greece is currently in a full lockdown. This includes no freedom of movement. To maintain such a lockdown without also expanding medical and financial support for those affected is an exercise in sheer authoritarianism.
           There are only six recognized justifications for leaving the house: to shop at pharmacies and supermarkets, to exercise (as defined and allowed by police) or walk a dog, to go to work, to attend funerals, to visit a doctor or hospital, or to help a person in need. The latter usually only applies to Greeks helping their grandparents; police have ticketed many people who were trying to give needed supplies to homeless people or people in refugee or Roma camps. You have to text the state to receive permission to go outside and show the SMS confirmation to police if they stop you. These SMS requests to the state provide data and surveillance opportunities to state agencies. Violations can result in a 300 euro fine or other charges. The police most often stop people of color or establish checkpoints in less affluent neighborhoods.
         A curfew is also mandated between 9 pm and 5 am, during which the only permitted activities are going to work, walking a dog, or going to the hospital.

         Many people in Greece are homeless in the midst of the lockdown.
       Though lockdown is nationally mandated, it is enforced differently in different neighborhoods. Exarchia, for example, is under intense surveillance with almost no one in the street, while wealthy suburbs see little supervision. In the United States, the right condemns safety measures and lockdowns as a liberal conspiracy to sabotage the economy; if they recognized the political opportunities that the pandemic has handed right-wing administrations across Europe, they might change their narrative.
       The first lock down in March and April took place when cases were averaging around 150 to 200 per day; today, the numbers fluctuate between 2000 and 2500 per day, with ICU beds filling rapidly. The blame for the infection rates rests on the business elite who demanded open borders for tourism in August, despite the obvious danger. Although there was 90% less tourism than in previous years, these policies permitted a few wealthy tourists to spread the virus throughout the mainland and islands of Greece. The New Democracy regime continues to slash hospital and medical staff budgets, redirecting the funds to decorative urban renewal projects, police and prison staff, and an increased military budget. They prioritize adding fountains and potted plants to neighborhoods over addressing rampant homelessness and drug addiction. They have failed to adjust public transportation to allow for social distancing, so subways and buses remain packed with people, likely spreading the virus. This disproportionately affects those who cannot afford to travel to work by car. While failing to provide funding for protection, the government blames individuals for the alarming infection rates.

       As in many other countries, elite scientists propose further lockdowns, taking everything into consideration except the plight of those already living precariously under capitalism. A lockdown without parallel support for the poor only offers protection for the wealthy elite, disregarding poverty as an excusable consequence of the pre-existing social order.
       With everything closed, furloughed workers are paid even less than what was already too little to survive. “Essential” delivery workers, teachers, and grocery store workers receive no increase in pay or free protective equipment. Some wish their work was deemed “nonessential” so they could be paid a small unemployment salary rather than risking their health for so little money.
      Homelessness has worsened in Greece as the New Democracy government has attempted to reinvent the country as a glamorous, heavily policed tourist destination in the midst of a pandemic.
       Homeless people continue to face fines, arrest, and displacement. The state is using the virus as an excuse to prevent assemblies of any kind. Police recently attacked and beat people inside a social center in Patras for gathering food to distribute to those in need. Mutual aid efforts continue, despite the constant threats, arrests, and fines imposed by police; the simple act of helping those in need outside of the context of the church is now treated the way that much more controversial or confrontational actions were before. Many in Greece, especially the residents of Exarchia who witness the harshest enforcement of the lockdown in an urban environment, refer to the virus as a “Junta holiday.”
      Doctors have mobilized to call for more investment in protective equipment and medical solutions to the pandemic, but they are ignored or repressed. Essential workers have faced fines for not having the correct paperwork while outside risking their safety to deliver essential services. People have organized small demonstrations against this sort of political opportunism, but police have responded by kettling them, further endangering the demonstrators with regard to virus transmission as well as police violence.
      New Democracy and its European counterparts are implementing a lockdown that is designed to “save Christmas” for New Democracy’s right-wing base. In this strategy, a lockdown will be implemented to the fullest extent until retail stores open for those who have money to spend on Christmas shopping. The plan doesn’t go much further than this; except for this temporary period of consumption, the lockdown is expected to continue after the holiday. Formal announcements about this plan came as the state spent thousands of euros to temporarily project an image of Jesus Christ onto the parliament building for “Armed Forces Day,” an expression of New Democracy’s determination to reinvent Greece as an authoritarian Christian state.

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Shafted.

 

         Philip Green has been in the news recently for his usual talent of sucking companies dry, throwing their millions at his wife's account, of course all tax free, as she lives in Monaco, but Philip is not alone in this screwing the British tax payer. As a mater of fact, it is quite common practice among our large and wealthy companies. During the year 2017 the number of very large and rich companies that made a profit, but contributed nil to the UK tax pot is a list of very well known names. Though these figures are from 3 years ago, they are still playing the same game of shafting the public to enrich the company and its shareholders. What is even more disgusting, is that some of these corporate giants, despite making a profit, were handed a tax credit of millions. Which means that instead of them contributing to the wealth of the country, we the tax payers helped them pay their CEO and shareholders larger payments.

 

          Almost one in five of Britain's biggest companies paid not a penny of corporation tax in the UK last year, it can be revealed. The Mail on Sunday has managed to obtain the details of the tax paid by 69 of the FTSE 100 group of largest companies on the stock market – many of which do not publish these figures in their annual reports. The remaining 31 refused or failed to respond to repeated requests to disclose their tax payments.
       Where details could be obtained, 13 firms – equivalent to one in five of the 69 that came clean – either paid no corporation tax in Britain or received a tax credit from HM Revenue & Customs. The list includes household names such as BP, Royal Mail and British Gas owner Centrica. Usually firms pay corporation tax of 19 per cent of their total profits.
       BP made £5.6 billion in profit last year – yet still received tax credits worth £134million. That meant it was a net receiver of tax money in the UK, rather than contributing to the cost of running the country where its shares are listed.
       Some firms are even paying their chief executives more than they pay in tax. Royal Mail boss Rico Back stands to earn £1.4million this year on top of a £5.8million 'golden hello' for joining the company. This payment might appear unremarkable given that the company, which was privatised in 2013, made £39million profit in the UK last year and £212million globally. But it can now be revealed Royal Mail's UK profit was then increased rather than reduced by tax, thanks to a huge tax credit of £93million - the second largest in our survey - of which £78million was attributed to a pension 'accounting adjustment with no cash benefit', according to the company.
       The findings will raise concerns big businesses are failing to pay their fair share towards schools, hospitals and UK infrastructure. None of the companies assessed by The Mail on Sunday is accused of acting illegally, but most have used UK tax laws to reduce their payments from the amount they might have been expected to pay.

        Of course I'm not drawing attention to this in the hope that our corporate friendly lords and masters in The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, will introduce a set of fairer laws to stop this. There isn't a hope in hell of that, since most of them are shareholders and on very friendly terms with the tax "evaders". No, I'm hoping that these facts might raise the anger level of the general public enough to bring this whole stinking greedfest of the parasites to an end. Then we can start to reconstruct society in a fairer and just manner that sees to the needs of all our people. We don't need them, but to continue to keep their snouts in the public trough, they need us to be submissive and look the other way. Will we comply?  

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Ten Years.

         The figures mighty be different but probaly worse. I wrote this little piece about ten years ago, not much has changed in those ten years. Except that the anger is still there, but moved to a more demonstrative level in lots of place across the world, but still too many just keep their anger under wraps, why? We have a right to express that anger in a more confrontational manner, after all the system hasn't softened its approach to us the ordinary people, if anything it is now much harsher and getting more so. We all have a right to self defence, and we as a class are being brutally attacked.

    

         The people are angry. The kids are angry because they have nowhere to go in this system, and the adults are angry because nowhere is their existence. Dead-end jobs mixed with broken down schools in this endless competition to see who can end life with the most possessions. It begins with compulsory education, with the idea that indoctrination is the same as education. Feeling trapped in the endless work load, in the endless department stores, surrounded by nothing but millions of people doing the same thing and consuming the same way, there should be no need of explanation why we're angry. It's about the government detaining citizens on nothing more than a hunch. It's about police officers having the malicious control over the life and death of those around them. It's about the richest people in the world getting rich from the work of others. It's about getting kicked out of the park by cops because you deter tourism and you're homeless. It's about travelling four thousand miles around the world so you can fight in a war only to enrich Western capitalism. It's about getting beat up and torn apart, tortured and vivisected, thrown to the gutter after exploitation. And it's about swarms of people doing nothing but going along with it, buying the products that support the rich who bribe the ruling class. It's about.. Consume. Obey. Exist. Consume. Obey. Exist. Consume. Obey. Exist.

THINK!

Commercialism!

 

       "Since the 1970s the US oil company Occidental has been drilling in the Peruvian Amazon area. During that time it is estimated that Occidental has dumped 9 million barrels of toxic waste into the streams, land and rivers of the Achuar people."

UNDERSTAND!

State Power!

        "Since 2003, 4,385 US troops have been killed in Iraq, 1031 in Afghanistan, 179 UK troops have been killed in Iraq, 278 in Afghanistan 650,000 Iraqis have been killed, and they don't seem to count Afghan civilian deaths. All we know is that the number grows each year,

QUESTION!

Religion!

        "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence." -- 1 Timothy 2:12

There are thousands of reasons why we are angry,

pick one and join us.

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Asset Stripper.

 

                                           Sir Philip Green's £100 million wee boat.

      He's back in the news, and for all the usual reasons, spiv, tax evader, assets stripper, Philip Green, luxury yacht owner. Remember how he sucked BHS dry by huge share bonuses, paid no tax because the company was registered in his wife's name and she lives in Monaco, then left it to die with a massive multi-million pound hole in its pension fund. Well it looks like lightening does strike twice in the same place, Arcadia, another of his wives little assets that they sucked dry and now it dies, again leaving a £350 million hole in its pension fund.
       This arrogant privileged pampered duo are said to be worth £930 million, their nice little nest-egg was somewhat enhanced in 2005 when Sir Philip Green paid his wife a nice little dividend payment of £1.2 billion from Arcadia. Of course no tax paid as she lives in Monaco. He doesn't invest, he asset strips, piling the ill-gotten wealth into his dear wife's account, tax free of course.

A couple of views of the interior of Philip's wee boat.

       So while Sir Philip mucks about in his wee boat in Monaco, no doubt preparing for a wee holiday in the Caribbean, after the stress of milking Arcadia dry, because of his actions, thousands of ordinary people are preparing to face the dole.
      We tolerate this, it is not an isolated case of wealth plundering by those arrogant wealthy parasites, it is part and parcel of this system of exploitation and greed. The world is awash with untold wealth slushing around in a labyrinth of tax havens, while millions go hungry, exist homeless and struggle to feed their kids. The question is why do we tolerate this? Every pound in their little secret boxes, was produced by you and I, we create the wealth, they plunder and stash it away for their own greed driven personal gratification. We must be insane to tolerate this continuing two fingers at us, the wealth creators, by a clique of arrogant parasites, who are laughing all the way to Monaco, the Caribbean etc..

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Croatia.

       As I keep repeating, pick your patch on the planet and you'll find the people, in angry protest at the way the system functions, and those pampered privileged individuals who manage the whole rotten affair. It is only right that information on these protests, uprisings, insurrections, rebellions should be widely known, perhaps encouraging others to take their righteous anger onto the streets and join the resistance to what is a foul, brutal, exploitative system that spawns destitution and wars. This report is from Croatia.

The following is from Anarkismo.net:

      Beating Our Heads Against the Wall – It Was Worth It (2020) is a short documentary film, that depicts a period of anarchist activities in Croatia (2008-2020), with a focus on the regions of Kvarner (Quarnaro/Carnaro) and Istria, but also on a larger scale across Croatia, and other countries such as Slovenia, Italy, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain. This document illustrates years of organisation, struggle, and lengthy legal proceedings.
      The photographs and graphics used in this film are from the period between 2008 and 2020. These visuals depict the student occupation of the university, street protests, workers' strikes, and visual propaganda used for various purposes. On the audio track (an interview from 2016), Radio Borba (Eng. Radio Struggle) interviews Eugen Babić after his conviction in a criminal procedure from 2014 onwards. Also included are audio clips of a protest in 2013, after which the police attacked the protesters. In this act of repression, 15 policemen were involved in the apprehension of Eugen Babić, in which others also suffered consequences, including a policeman. The focus of the radio interview is on those events.
     Network of Anarchists takes the credit for the film, commemorating the 4th anniversary of the verdict in Rijeka (2016). The film is meant for those who do not know what happened, those that want to remind themselves of the events, and those that think it’s all over.
October 25th, 2020
Publication Committee of the Network of Anarchists (Croatia)

 

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SubMedia.

     The latest offering from SubMedia "System Fail", No.5 is as usual informative and interesting.

The following from SubMedia:

       We're pleased to bring you System Fail 5, where we look at the aftermath of the US Presidential elections including the so-called "Million MAGA March" held in DC on November 14th. We also pick the brain of anarchist strategist and author of The Masters Tools: Warfare & Insurgent Possibility, Tom Nomad

Watch the episode here:
Website: https://sub.media/video/system-fail-5-sick-of-winning/
Kolektiva: https://kolektiva.media/videos/watch/0da4f0ea-1881-46fe-b9ae-a1e046d9b0b9
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/484913716
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaT6U0k41LQ
IGTV: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CIJ8JIzlwiv/

         We're also very excited to announce the launch of our new Circle-A podcast, hosted by JR. This will give us a chance to delve deeper into the interviews featured on System Fail, and will also give us a chance to dust off some of the best interviews from our Trouble series.
         We're still relatively new to the world of podcasts, but for now you can find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you like what you hear, please consider leaving us a five star rating and recommending us to your friends.
       We've produced two episodes so far, both of which are available on our website at: https://sub.media/circle-a

Episode one: What is 1492 Landback Lane (w Skyler Williams)
Episode two: Destroying the Prison Industrial Complex (w El Jones)

Warning:
This episode features scenes of graphic violence, including shots from Charlottesville

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Accidental?

 

        The evidence revealed in the following article on the death of a young man, is just one example of why the feelings of the public, regarding the police and our judicial system, range from mistrust to downright hatred. The police and the judicial system exist in a bubble that makes them untouchable and beyond true public scrutiny and accountability. It takes courage, considerable time and tremendous perseverance to try and burst that bubble, many have tried, but few have succeeded. Public exposure of these incidents can help burst that bubble.

                                               Photo courtesy of No Majesty.

The following, including the film, was taken from Anarchist Film Group: 

         When Rod Charles first heard that his great nephew Rashan had died whilst being detained by a police officer, he assumed that the incident must have merited whatever action the officer took. Why wouldn’t he? Rod Charles had served for 30 years with the Metropolitan Police, retiring at the rank of Chief Inspector, and Rashan was a young man with low level criminal convictions.
       That first news came on the day Rashan died, Saturday 22 July 2017. Rod recalls: “It wasn’t until 20 or 24 hours later, the Sunday morning, when a niece called me to say Uncle Rodney have a look at some footage what’s on CCTV which has been uploaded to YouTube. And it was when I looked at the footage on YouTube, that changed everything.”
        Somebody had uploaded a few minutes’ fuzzy footage recorded on a mobile phone from a CCTV monitor in a Hackney supermarket. It showed a police officer pursuing Rashan into the shop, grabbing him from behind, hurling him to the floor with a combat throw, and heavily restraining him. It showed a second man joining the restraint, pinning Rashan down, and helping to handcuff him when he was limp and unresponsive.
       “The officer was not at fear of harm from Rashan. He threatened nothing to the officer. No member of the public nearby was threatened by Rashan,” says Rod. “The nature of the force being used. . .has caused me and continues to cause me a lot of concern.”
       Rashan Charles was 20 years old, a loving father to his daughter, who was coming up to two years old when he died. He was a beloved son, friend, nephew, cousin, brother and, as Rod puts it, “an integral part of the family”.
        In our new documentary film, “Accidental Death” of a Young Black Londoner, The Case of Rashan Charles, Rod Charles examines previously unseen footage that reveals more about what happened to Rashan. Rod questions the quality of the investigation into Rashan’s death, the “accidental” deletion of evidence, the tactics of police lawyers and the conduct of the coroner at the inquest that concluded with a finding of “accidental death”.
       Our film shows, for the first time, curious interactions between the man who helped restrain Rashan and several officers at the scene, interactions that raise questions about the official narrative.

 

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Ruskin.

     Covid19, covid19, covid19, every second word in the news outlets is covid19 or pandemic. This present situation has prevented us from accessing our archive, Spirit of Revolt, it also has somewhat hampered our activities. However, there are still things we can do to bringing you something different to read other than covid19 and pandemic,and our "Read of the Month" is one of them. For the month of November we bring you the pamphlet, The "Rights of Labour", according to John Ruskin arranged by Thomas Barclay. It is part of our Charlie Baird Collection. So read, learn and enjoy, and perhaps if you liked what you read, you should take a wee browse through the catalogue, and see what other delights you might find, and spread the word about the gems you can find in Spirit of Revolt..

The Rights of Labour.

Read the pamphlet on line:

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Chained.

 

       Again I show my enthusiasm for another magazine, another piece of paper we can spread around our streets, workplaces, pubs and clubs. This is an older one from a couple of years back, I may have posted this before, but here it is again. An Australian magazine of contributions, poems, prose and artworks from prisoners, their families and friends. The thoughts of those locked away in any state's repression cages and those friends and family outside, deserve to be heard. Perhaps then the public at large will have a better understanding of what it is like to be incarcerated in one of these state institutional hellholes, and maybe lend their support to seeing to the total abolition of these inhumane leftovers from a barbaric era in the dark history of us humans.

Paper Chained:

        The second issue of Paper Chained has been published online. This is a journal that supports publication of writings and artistic expressions from people affected by incarceration. Click here to download the PDF, and visit the blog of Running Wild here to read more.

The Silent Partner.

She waits patiently at home
with three kids in tow
her husband is in gaol
the children don’t know

the cupboards stand empty
there’s no food to eat
no warm clothes on their backs
no shoes on their feet

he sits alone in his cell
his tears fall in silence
he pens a letter to home
too long,is his sentence

an absent father forgotten
bad, sad thoughts fill her head
two leaking eyes, one broken heart
a cold, empty half-bed

soon it will all be over
the nightmare come to an end
the steel gates will swing open
the family be whole again.

First Time In

echos through the hollow halls
chief! sweeper! the anguished calls
from inmates in the holding cell
first time in, it feels like hell

time is relative, unimportant
change in perspective
outlook on life
eyes down, mouth shut
keep out of strife.
don’t look, sont’ see
don’t ask, don’t tell
don’t listen, don’t hear
each has his own story
each sheds a private tear

left alone with your thoughts
looks can’t kill, but
your maddening thoughts will
ruminating –not illuminating
no conversation –no communicationin
a single cell.

CONTRIBUTOR DETAILS David McGettiganIn prison on remand since March 2018

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