Streetwise or C-l-o-u-d-s, Mind Games

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

We don’t always know what we want, and when we do, we don’t always get it, but that should not stop us even just window shopping for inspiration…like millions before us throughout history anxiously seeking inspiration or perhaps just a comfort zone of sorts, sufficient at least to see us through another cloudy day.

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky.” -  Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds

STREETWISE or C-L-O-U-D-S, MIND GAMES

Now and then life grabs us

by the scruff of the neck

and tosses us into The Street

where we lie on our backs

look a passing cloud in the eye,

demanding answers it

It soon becomes very clear

the cloud doesn’t care

what on earth we're doing there,

(nor it seems do passers-by)

so we have to face the possibility

it could well be our fault

Our flaws stand up poorly

to close examination,

lying on our backs in The Street;

time to get real, get up,

walk on, trust centuries of hope

to treat blisters on our feet

Wearily, treading the world

in anxious footprints left

by ghosts fired by desperation

to track the kinder side

of reality, live in love and peace,

secure a comfort zone

Last spotted throwing caution
to the winds, putting can
before can't and will before won't,
giving winds of change
a fighting chance to do their best
on the street where I live 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2013

Nightmare on the High Street

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

[Update: 20/2/17]: High Street shop owners now fear being left in financial ruin as the Government considers a huge increase in business rates in town and cities across Britain. Don't these (mostly financially secure) politicians realise that small businesses are the backbone of any nation.] RT

Today’s poem was written in 2009, less than a year after the so-called ‘credit crunch’ first made its appearance in the UK and began to bite; it first appeared in an American poetry magazine under the title Nightmare On Main Street (2010) and then in a UK anthology, Inspired Minds, Forward Press as well as my own collection during the same year.

Across the world, many families and small businesses continue to suffer great hardship as we all seem stuck with a prolonged period of adversity.

Yes, there are glimmers of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Yet, it all seems so far away….

NIGHTMARE ON THE HIGH STREET

Jobs tossed away like beer cans
in a trash bin;
houses repossessed, cash hawks
at the ready

Homes crumbling like sand bags
in a hurricane;
marriages made in heaven filing
for bankruptcy

Bankers playing the blame game
to save face;
politicians relying on fiscal fears
for a free hand

In politics, business much as usual
(promises, promises…);
credit crunch or no, can’t go frugal
on the arms budget

World religions cleaning up on new
converts;
safety in numbers, unless you’re in
a war zone

Told to save on energy, and who’ll
save the children?

[From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]