Saturday 23 February 2013

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)


GREAT WARS DO NOT MAKE GREAT ART ("I am a camera")
No poetry in the arc of falling bomb,nor ugly toy drone
nor shell shocked patients recovering from concussion
Bright minds encounter official violence-and are silenced
Kampuchea to China,Iran  to Iraq-poetry scraps white flags
There are words-"holocaust"."casualties""attrition"
None of them have bells of beauty ringing
Trot out the corpses of Sassoon,Owen,Blunden
Not one word will stop the next war coming.

SUPREME SACRIFICE
"for men who die like cattle"-white crosses
for men who live in peace-white feathers
worship of the wounded warrior-shell shock/PTSD
for those who find their words-"the pity of it"
for those made numb or dead-orations/folded flags


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