Poetry: Waiting for the Midnight Knock
Waiting For the Midnight Knock
Ten years ago thrived democracy.
Five years ago swirled pandemic.
Minds faltered, attached blame
where no blame was due.
The pendulum swung
Back and Forth and Back again.
Remain
Brexit
Populism
In fertile ground did strident views
of human nature take root.
Strident voices down-shouted
the calm, still, gentle voice of reason.
Give us our salvation!
the people demanded.
Our salvation ~ Sieg Heil.
Our salvation ~ Sieg Heil.
Abortion ~ Outlawed
Christians raised their cries to heaven
in glorious adoration and expectation.
Our salvation ~ Sieg Heil
LGBTQI+ ~ Outlawed
Christians and Muslims raised their cries to heaven
in glorious adoration
Our salvation ~ Sieg Heil
Allahu Ahkbar
The long dark night returned,
Lasr seen in hasty departure in 1945.
That is history!
History is pointless!
… the chorus demanded.
A blackened blanket, scorched,
Settled upon the planet.
Pompeii-en choked.
Surely this is the end!
Nature walked on,
Briefly gave a backward glance
of disinterest,
that oh so telling
we’ve been here before,
many times,
many, many times
She He They It Whatever
Smiled.
It’s hibernation time again.
Beneath the earth, Nature breathed.
Above the earth throughout the universe
Nature breathed and rested.
But on the earth
Desultory befukt himankind
Gasped, clutched, screamed
And died itself to total destruction.
The timeline remained intact
Only Nature knew the time of its awakening
And Nature’s greatest quality was threefold:
Patience and Endurance
And the ability to procreate in ways beyond imagining.
10 May 2024
All Rights Reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2024 Ian Bradley Marshall
Digital Artwork by © 2024 KTW © 2024 IBM unless otherwise credited
Gallery Being Gay Being Bi Whatever © 2024 KTW © 2013 IBM
The third Anthology by Ian Bradley Marshall
with the double-decker-bus title Being Gay Being Bi Whatever
was first published by AuthorHouse in 2013
The Gallery is a direct reflection of the anthology in 2013
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
