Metaphor, Defining and Redefining Human Nature OR The Landscape of Anxiety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Now, life is relatively short and time very precious. We are all in it together, all with the same responsibility to keep our streets clean and free of litter. I look around sometimes at the rubbish on our streets and am brought close to tears for witnessing so much human waste, thoughtlessness and disrespect for the safety and well-being of others ...

The old saying is so true. A little thought really does go a long way, especially during these difficult times as the Covid-19 virus continues to spread around the world.

"There is a strange interdependence between thoughtlessness and evil". - Hannah Arendt

“Carelessness does more harm than a want of knowledge.” – Benjamin Franklin

“A metaphor is not an ornament. It is an organ of perception. Through metaphors, we see the world as one thing or another.” ― Neil Postman

METAPHOR, DEFINING & REDEFINING  HUMAN NATURE or THE  LANDSCAPE OF ANXIETY

Orange peel in the gutter, apt comment

on most human failings

Bird droppings, metaphors for nature's 

perspective on humanity

Dog poop, left by animal lovers without

a thought for anyone else

Celebrity snappers vying to get one over

on the more popular press

Images ripped from newspapers, flapping

like manifestos at elections

Bounty hunters, tracking our every move

on social media databases

Raindrops, Earth Mother's tears for death
on the streets, hate crime...

Blood stains, graffiti on a Wall of Silence

("Well, it wasn't me, guv ..."

Orange peel in the gutter, poet's testament 

to a growing sense of anxiety

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2016

[Note: A earlier version of this poem under the title 'Waste' first appeared in CC&D poetry magazine, Scars Publications (US) v 191, 2008 and subsequently in On the Battlefields Of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]

Walls, among 'live' Metaphors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

We often hear talk of moral courage, and it is to be applauded, but standing up for what we believe in is not always the same as standing up for the rights of everyone in the same corner we are fighting. The recent shutdown of the U.S. Government over funding for a wall across the border with Mexico, the continuing impasse at Stormont in Northern Ireland and the Brexit fiasco in the British Parliament are but a few examples of how our so-called ‘betters’ should not lead by example.

Meanwhile ...

Parents in West Yorkshire, UK, came up against another such wall only recently.  Kirklees Council debated the supply of non-stun halal meat to 43 schools. in West Yorkshire; this, after receiving a petition of almost 8,000 parents expressing concern over animal welfare. Various councillors - including  Green Party members who voted with Labour colleagues - sided with the pro-cruelty lobby on the grounds that it supports diversity. Perhaps they can explain what diversity has to do with either animal welfare ... or freedom of choice, such as so far denied the schoolchildren concerned?

In most if not all cases of intransigence across the  whole spectrum of issues plaguing various societies worldwide, where there's a will there is invariably a way; it is called compromise. Sadly, where compromise means having to agree to differ and act for the better of all rather than some (or self) this puts 'will' in a position too many of our so-called 'betters' are unwilling to accept.

This poem is a villanelle.

WALLS, AMONG 'LIVE' METAPHORS

At a wall dripping blood and tears
find world democracies' sins well-met,
live metaphor for the world’s fears

Where true democracy disappears,
political ambition refuting its social debt
at a wall dripping blood and tears

Wherever love-and-peace, it veers
away, find agents conspiring to thwart;
live metaphor for the world fears

Divisions perpetuated for years
driven further apart since last ill-met
at a wall dripping blood and tears

Where time’s kinder mist clears,
discern guards with orders to shoot on sight;
live metaphor for the world’s fears

It's Freedom’s fair head that rears,
to debate any socio-cultural-religious tenet
at a wall dripping blood and tears,
live metaphor for the world’s fears

Copyright R N Taber 2019