Mad World

If you were an 8 year old Iraqi girl whose parents had been killed by a bomb; if you had witnessed your son get into the wrong crowd, begin taking drugs, then commit suicide; if you had your limbs dismembered or arms amputated by the Janjaweed Militia in Darfur, over a resources control and religious conflict that was none of your business; if you needed surgery your family couldn't afford; if you were a dying girl in India who just discovered that a corporation's dishonest waste disposal practices just outside your village (practices they would not be allowed to get away with in their own country) were most probably responsible for your illness; if a corporation exploited your country's mineral wealth enriching the company's shareholders and directors, and a handful of corrupt local politicians while poverty lingered and your country became more deprived… how would you feel if someone told you that 'shit happens, some things can never be changed until people have an incentive to change their behaviour'? All these are actions of human beings ...which can be prevented / stopped. These are not 'supernatural' phenomena or 'Acts of God' beyond human prevention .....

From a town outside a city in England some words have been slowly and painstakingly reorganising themselves the last four years. Their servant, a sojourner with a story as fictitious as is factual. The end product is a poetic creation that will entertain, encourage, provoke, poke fun, tease and ridicule … it delves into themes including celebrity, crime, destiny, extremism, elitism, inequality, freedom, justice, law, literature, love, mysticism, philosophy,politics, poverty, rationalism, religion and revolution…

The poems challenge existing norms that contribute to societal dysfunction across the world, the injustice, the greed, the unrestrained excess, the warring…. appealing to those in positions of authority or leadership (who up until now have failed to bring lasting peace and harmony to our world) to carefully reconsider their actions, in so far as they impact others further afield. The poems advocate empathy, responsibility and freedom from puppetry, in favour of Responsible Capitalism; all in an effort to realise the real and achievable goal of a harmonious world in which the majority of people lived in relative peace and happiness, free from want, free from fear.