NOW THEY’LL GO ON ABOUT THIS FOR DAYS AND DAYS
- The endless TV
- overstuffed pages of a
- newspaper
- the piece-to-camera
- caper
- the experts on terrorism
- clichés
- platitudes
- in rhythm
- they forecast
- Syria Libya Iraq
- and
- who will live and die
- in the wreckage
- these hacks
- but they can’t forecast
- the next ruined
- holiday package
- with their morality
- heaven-sent
- integrity
- long ago
- spent
Wilson John Haire
OF TILLS AND PILLS
- The Titanic sank on the 14th of April
- 1912
- to the Atlantic Ocean floor
- the Ulster Covenant made a call
- to rebel
- on the 28th of September
- 1912
- against the Third Home Rule Bill
- signed by loyalists galore
- the shivering wreck has put money
- in the till
- while the Covenant has put Loyalism
- on the Pill
Wilson John Haire
TOURIST CLASS
- 3000 bombs and missiles hit Mosul
- in three years
- this RAF pilot
- on TV appears
- his temper
- ultraviolet
- they hate us down there
- he says
- but we don’t kill civilians
- for we’ve counted none
- only villains
- and when we have polished them
- off
- he interrupts with a little
- cough
- it’s off to Raqqa
- to you Syria
- for another fling
- where our bombs will groom
- and our missiles will sing
- out of tune
- with the Assad aria
Wilson John Haire
FLAG OF CONVENIENCE
- The people’s flag is deepening red
- from the blood of the Iraqi dead
- Palestinians knocked out cold
- when Zionism sought to twist its soul
- then there are the luxury
- yachts
- for cavorting Mandelson
- the microdot
- alas poor Prescott the bosses friend
- proletarian from end to end
- once militant trade unionist
- now very much at sea
- sits in ermine buzzing wildly as a
- one-winged bee
- bring on bagpiper Alistair Campbell
- fingers chanter of blood and guts
- mad-dancing
- as he rambles
- ah Tony Blair someone fetch me a chair
- helped high finance now vigorously
- collects his share
- roams the world as a PR hit man
- lock up your wife if you can
- did George-W-Bush impregnate him
- with hate
- when he last went on that Whitehouse date
- but as a lawyer on the go it’s a word
- he very well knows
- can’t think like others as the blood
- continues to flow
- now nothing at all Left of New Labour
- since it last tossed it’s Thatcherite
- caber
Wilson John Haire
BUT NOT LIKE THAT
- One of the most blood-thirsty tribes
- on earth
- Scythians 900 – 200 BC warriors of
- ancient Siberia
- slaughtered men women children
- those about to
- give birth
- today’s criteria
- drank their blood
- no humanity
- at its hub
- though produced great art
- says
- the historian
- but they’re not like
- us
- not valedictorian
- not the same
- European empires
- such a shame
- yes
- but not like that
- what
- Iraq Libya Syria Afghanistan
- a bane
- yes
- but not like that
- Hiroshima Nagasaki
- bad cess
- yes
- but not like that
- US war-mongering
- to control the planet
- maybe
- dammit
- but not like that
Wilson John Haire.
NOW WHY DID I THINK LIKE THAT
- Cacophony whistles
- blow
- steam others electronic
- 8 am
- panic
- haven’t put on clothes
- panic
- coalmines’ tongue out
- to swallow me
- down its throat
- shipyard wants to coffin me
- in a cold steel boat
- blast furnace melts eyes
- down cheek
- cotton mill chatters chatters chatters
- bangs and batters
- freaks
- reoccurring dream
- lie there
- the brain evaporates
- the scene
- down the deserted street
- nitrous oxide canisters
- needles on a park seat
- not laughing now
- sliding down endless
- banisters
- at job centre
- play air-guitar
- please your mentor
- play air-hammer
- simulate the wrecking bar
- midst the demolition
- the state
- your embalmer.
Wilson John Haire.
Labour Affairs Magazine 