“There is a war between the rich and poor” (Quote from Leonard Cohen’s song “There is a War”
We fought a paper war
to save
our children from illiteracy,
our minorities from indignity,
our poor from the trap,
our innocent from attack,
our sick from relapse,
our planet from collapse.
We fought for equality and opportunity,
for compassion and fair shares of wealth.
We fought for clean earth and breathable air.
We were cheated, defeated.
Our paper war
was fought in vain.
Now X marks the spot
where millions
forgot how elitist the heart that beats
beneath a blue rosette;
forgot its traditions, forgot
its determination
to quench the flame that feeds families’ needs,
forgot it’s self-seeking greed.
I guess they got lost in the flurry of fog
that was blown from the lips of the blustering trickster
to cover his billowing, right-wing flag.
X marks the spot where millions
punched themselves in the gut
and shot our country in the foot.
We fought a paper war.
The ballot boxes spilled their weapons
and the count began.
So many X’s etched in the same place,
landing like angry kisses,
like sarcastic, soggy smacks
soaking my face.
The media blames Brexit,
which suggests our electorate waved aside
the higher stakes
and now it’s too late to explain.
We can only say we fought bravely,
but in vain.
.
©Jane Paterson Basil
Making it write 
What a great poem…..actually whats happened once more is that a huge percentage has voted Green but because the voting system is flawed once more there is only 1 green MP
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It’s the same old story… xox
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Stay strong. xx
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How this cuts to the heart, Jane. All the issues the country – the planet – has to deal with and our electorate thinks Brexit is the most important. And who do they think can fix it? The blond liar who helped cause the problem in the first place. Beautiful, passionate, angry and true
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Thank you Lynn. It’s crazy. Around here few people admit to having voted Tory, so they must feel some kind of shame. Out of 55,000-odd people in North Devon who voted, over 32,000 chose the conservative – and few of them even knew who she was. I voted green, but at the count it was Finola, the Labour candidate that I wept with and for.
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Sadly, people believed the ‘get Brexit done’ lie. Say a thing often enough and it becomes truth, somehow. If course, Brexit will still be getting ‘done’ in ten years time and meanwhile, the Tories are selling off the NHS, eroding social care, punishing the sick and disabled. At three least three EU have said we’re welcome back anytime.
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Boris is a slippery geezer and people are too gullible…
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So very true
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Yes. I thoroughly agree with you on both counts.
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WHY I DON’T
Watching or reading what they call the news
Puts the tiny blur of politics
Undeservedly centre stage
And time will pass – or we will pass through time
And old puns lose topicality
Or else be missed entirely
Watching or reading what they call the news
Is a part of popular culture
You might say: “the people’s culture”
And time will pass – or we will pass through time
Though probably only just scrape through
As revision’s out of fashion
In a culture – if you can call it that
That treats today as an ashtray, poor
Yesterday like a soiled tissue
That yesterday in which at last my dad
Was released from the war and came home
As hopeful as the Welfare State
And read the Mirror because he believed
It spoke for and to the working man
Had values and stood for something
These days my mother reads the dreary Mail
The Mirror – shameless, lobotomised
Laps at the gutter with the Sun
And who now recalls the year the party
Saw their vote for disarmament squashed
By their own elected leaders?
The rule of democracy – after all
Being useful only just as long
As people vote the way you want
Once in power you can do as you like
I couldn’t accept that even then
And come to think of it still can’t
But the world of politics – after all
Is one of those areas in which
Any fool can point out what’s wrong
And you’re a fool of a whole other kind
To think you can even imagine
Still less define what might be right
Yet there are times when I know there’s something
That can be embodied in our lives
And can inform the way we act
‘Cos politics is our use of power
In accord with the values we hold
And doesn’t require that we vote
Of what use to man or beast – after all
The options on an all meat menu
To a strict vegetarian?
The world is not to be found in a box
Or between the pages of a rag
It’s before our eyes day by day
Watching or reading what they call the news
Caveat emptor … smoke and mirrors
A weapon of mass distraction
~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~
When I originally wrote this Tiny Blur was still admiring himself in No. 10. And now we are saddled with Doris. (Not a typo) Conservatism is at best a mild for of mental illness. At worst … Heil! (Not a typo.)
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Hear Hear! (or is it Here Here? I’ve ever been sure about that). I didn’t know you lived in the UK.
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Yes. Cumbria. And “The phrase hear him, hear him! was used in Parliament from late in the 17th century, and was reduced to hear! or hear, hear! by the late 18th century. The verb hear had earlier been used in the King James Bible as a command for others to listen.” (Wikipedia)
So now you know. 🙂
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Thank for the information, Ben. I should have guessed we picked it up from the rowdy Houses of Parliament.
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😀
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