(Sixth Poetry Collection, Written February-March 2014)
©2014 LIAM WHETSTONE All rights reserved
This publication is in copyright.
Subject to statutory exception And to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Liam Whetstone.
Index
Author’s Introduction
Dedication
A Life Support Machine
Fluidity
Passive Acceptance
Plagued Streets of Pity
Mind over Heart
The Only Solution
Absolute Bewilderment
An Otherworldly Creature
Eastern Crisis
Primitive Behaviour
A Tool of Oppression
Countless Options
Objective/Subjective
The Highest form of Witt
Action/Response
A Peace Keeping Force
Benefit Cheats
State Controlled Debates
Comfortable Ignorance
The Community Leader
Increasing Relevance
Lazy Stereotyping
The Smokescreen of Advancement
A Note on Extremism
The Root of All Evil
Vital Contributions
Ze Ubermensch
A Further Explanation
There is A Difference between these Two
A Polite Request
Author’s Introduction
This is my 6th poetry collection written during the first three months of 2014. The title “The Wisdom of an Alien from the Planet Nice” was inspired by an episode of a cartoon television show about a dog called “Towser” I used to watch when I was a child in the episode called “Towser and the Alien” the dog is visited by a green alien that comes down in a space ship the alien greets Towser in the following way “Hello I am an alien from the planet nice”, the alien states that he has “come to capture the leader” when Towser refuses the alien informs him that there will be war. Surprisingly the alien fires a bar of chocolate from his ray gun. Towser is obviously bewildered by this, so he says to the alien “I thought you said war you know hurting people”. To which the alien replies “on our planet you win wars by being nicer to your enemies than they are to you” I thought this really represented the tone, themes and meanings contained within the poems whilst also supporting the general perspective of the poems. So in this context I am “the Alien from the Planet Nice” and this is my wisdom.
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this 6th poetry collection to those who are kind enough to take the time to read it and consider the opinions and viewpoints expressed in the poems. I hope you enjoy reading these poems as much as I did writing them.
Liam Whetstone (March 2014)
A Life Support Machine
If this is turned of
Then all life is extinguished
Without love we are nothing
Without love there is nothing
When love dies
A well paid career is worthless
When love dies
Academic achievements are nullified
Never switch of this vital machine.
Fluidity
Some of us think
From one moment to the next
From one task to the next
From one problem to the next
From one decision to the next
The rest of us think
From one year to the next
From one month to the next
From one week to the next
From one day to the next
Those whose minds are like
The current of a stream
Flowing, twisting, turning and winding
Have a far better success rate in life
Do they not?
Passive Acceptance
We have never had it so good
Countless television channels
Feeding our simple tastes
With cheap trashy numb nothing
Then we have got sensationalist
Newspapers telling us
The right way to think
On top of this feast of mind
Numbing nonsense
Are pretentious Hollywood films
Enjoy
There is obviously nothing better.
Plagued Streets of Pity
Shopping centres spring up
In every city
capitalism’s symbol of glory
capitalism’s utopia
Misery, pointless shops
Selling pointless products
Ripping of the innocents
Ripping of the workers
Blind to the reality
Of the pitiful situation
Go on, spend all your hard
Earned cash on cheap cola
Coffee, sweets and designer clothes
If you suffer illness from the food
At the world buffet it’s a
Pitiful bonus
Mind over Heart
Right let’s get on with it
Let’s be professional
Let’s be productive
Let’s be useful
No need for emotion here
It just gets in the way
Direct questions/ direct answers
Direct instructions/ task completed
The Only Solution
To poverty, to famine
To inequality, to destitution
A programme of collective empathy
Consideration of every
Member of the global family
The only answer is to
Put the welfare of all
Over the size of piles
Of hoarded gold
It is a fair approach
To solving the problem
Of a criminal minority
Hoarding all the wealth
Of the world
Whilst the majority suffers.
Absolute Bewilderment
So, good citizens of the UK
You believe that your grand old
Developed nation is a fair state
Where everyone is equal
You think that you have democracy
You poor fools
You think that
A democracy has a monarch
A house of lords
A Prime Minister who is
The Queens fourth cousin
A government of millionaires
That didn’t even get
A mandate from the people
Yes there are elections
Every five years
But that does not constitute
A true democracy
Do you still think the UK
Is a democracy
Think about it?
An Otherworldly Creature
There she is with her strange smile
Her expressionless face
Her mesmerizing eyes
To sum she may seem strange
To sum she may seem odd
Indeed she is odd
Indeed she is different
I consider her to be very special
I consider her unique
Of course she isn’t normal
But why would anyone want to be normal
Is it not better to be natural?
Some of you might consider her
To be outspoken and self-opinionated
Her acute perception of human nature
Proves that she is perfect
As an inspector of crime of course
Her high functioning mind
Enables her to excel at her job
I grant you that she is no neurotypical
But neither dear reader am I
And yes I grant you
She is no good at small talk
Or indeed “hallow talk”
Indeed some of you may consider
Some of her
Behaviour to be inappropriate
I for one do not
But then some of you nurotypicals
Might say “takes one to know one”
I cannot disagree but is that a bad thing
Indeed she is unashamed in her honesty
When invited to dinner and asked
“Would you like the recipe?”
She replies “No it wasn’t tasty”
Eastern Crisis
In the cold of Eastern Europe
A crisis has set in stone
Poverty, homelessness, unemployment
This is the way it is
If the oppressed do nothing
In the east in times of desperation
Those who have been oppressed act
And of course
Desperate times
Call for desperate measures
Whilst we in England contemplate
On the general question
Of will Ukraine choose
Brussels or Moscow?
The oppressed citizens of Kiev
Worry about trivial things such
As food, jobs and shelter.
When these are absent
The only answer is action
By the oppressed people
Against its criminal government
However, that which preceded this
Is very likely to course
More death, destruction and misery.
If the tense situation escalates
The blood and tears will flow.
(3rd March 2014)
Primitive Behaviour
All forms of murder
Either in the field of battle
Or in the home
Are the behaviour
Of those with a very primitive
Outlook of right and wrong
The “eye for an eye”
Perspective is the very
Foundation of primitive society
To be a pacifist
To be a conscientious objector
Is not a selfish thing
It is not a cowardly thing
It is a logical and fair perspective.
A Tool of Oppression
Seven deadly sins
Unnumbered commandments
Rules, rules and more rules
Guilt, guilt and more guilt
Virtue, Piety, Morality
All these are in place
To keep the masses down
To prevent the herd from
Separating into individuals
To keep the free thinkers down
Religious virtue is not there
For the clean
Preservation and care
Of its flock
Its true purpose
Is to serve the clergy.
(If one goes through individual statements of the documents of Christianity, one will find everywhere that the demands have been exaggerated so that man cannot satisfy them, the intention is not that he become more moral but rather that he feel as sinful as possible)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Countless Options
In the 21st century world
There is countless diversity
Of opinion and taste
A world in which
There are many opposites
None should be judged
For their beliefs
Or principles
No religion, political party
Music, film or book
Should be banned
The opportunity to
Change one’s mind on
Politics, Religion and culture
Is a human right
Let us all enjoy this feast
Of equal and diverse taste.
Objective/Subjective
Two very different approaches
One very affective
The other quite obstructive
Objectivity is seen as
Objectionable by some
Who steadfastly see everything
Through subjective hearts
It is far more useful
To focus on the immediate matter
In a matter of fact way
And in a neutral way
Than to subjectively and irrationally defend some abstract
Thing that has suddenly
Been revealed to be very un-ethical.
Therefore, we must all learn to be objective not subjective
Then we might get somewhere.
The Highest form of Witt
This coalition government
Is doing an excellent job
Some consider this
The lowest form of wit
Some do not understand it
Some are offended by it
Indeed it is quite clever
When intending to
highlight the ridiculous
Action/Response
Every action has a reaction
Everything is done for a reason
Everything is there to be analysed
Everything is there to be questioned
Television programs, films, songs,
And poems are all created
To provoke a response from
The audience usually in the form
Of a very diverse, comprehensive and analytical discussion
An action without a response is
Completely redundant.
A Peace Keeping Force
Does not need firearms
Does not need bullets
Does not need tanks
Does not need missiles
All these items are evil
Use of these items results
In violence, misery and pain
Quite the opposite of peace
To keep the peace
One requires, empathy
Acceptance, sympathy, understanding
And to be substantially colour blind
When it comes to race and nationality
The prime element required for
A peace keeping force
Is the recognition that every human
Life is sacred and unique
Part of one bag of skittles
The human race.
Benefit Cheats
Are not those who
Require a few pennies
To survive
To live in comfortable accommodation
To wear comfortable clothes
To be clean and healthy
You do not earn these things
They are minimum human rights
To find true benefit cheats
You will need to look
In the boardrooms of the
World’s banks.
State Controlled Debates
An open and frank discussion
On the BBC about politics?
Yes of course if you don’t
Say anything to upset the government
Or offer the viewing masses
The opportunity to reconsider
Their own opinions
Yes of course you can say
Whatever you like on the
Grand old cosy BBC
Just as long as
You stick to the script.
Comfortable Ignorance
Its fine just carry on as you are
You don’t need
Any opinions of your own
You don’t need to question anything
Just sit back in your comfortable chair, watch Downton Abby and read
Fifty Shades of Grey
Yes luxuriate in yourself
Enjoy your trashy cheap mind dulling
Dross.
You can be like the rest of the sheep
So shrink into the herd so you can be like everyone else and fit into the masses, accepted because you like
Exactly the same
Rubbish as everyone else
The Community Leader
What does he do?
Well, he leads the community
In Sparkhil, Birmingham
The capital of British Pakistan
What does that involve?
Well, leading the community
And fighting the
“Creeping Gingerfication of Islam”
Don’t forget a ginger can’t be a Muslim
Getting on the mosque committee
Getting his picture in
The Sparkhill Echo
And generally doing and saying
Highly offensive and reprehensible
Things, you are not meant to
See Mr Kahn as an example of
A model Muslim man
Muslims are not the ones
Being ridiculed by
The antics of this
Self-styled community leader
It is those who wrongly accuse
Muslims of being like
Mr Kahn
Think about it?
Increasing Relevance
With the global capitalism
At the height of its power today
With increasing poverty
With increasing unemployment
The masses kept down by
The clever corporate fist
With the supreme rich
Amassing more and more riches
Sitting on their golden thrones
Gloating over the peasants
Mocking their poverty
The current state of
The world is exactly
What Marx was talking about
Just because his writing is over 200 years old does not make it irrelevant
Indeed all this hoarded wealth
Does need to be redistributed
It is glaringly clear
That Marx was right.
(That Marxism is finished would be music to the ears of Marxists everywhere. They could pack in their marching and picketing, return to the bosom of their grieving families and enjoy an evening at home instead of yet another tedious committee meeting. Marxists want nothing more than to stop being Marxists. In this respect being a Marxist is nothing like being a Buddhist or a billionaire. It is more like being a medic) Terry Eagleton, Why Marx Was Right
Lazy Stereotyping
You’re Irish are you?
You must be a
Guinness drinking catholic
You’re Asian are you?
You must be a Muslim
Your English are you?
You must like tea and cricket
Your Welsh are you
You must like rugby
You’re Australian are you?
You must like drinking Fosters
You’re American are you?
You must eat cheese burgers
And own a gun
You’re a New Zealander are you?
You must support the All Blacks
And be a fan of Peter Jackson
You’re under 35 years old
Why do you like classical music?
That stuff is for 80 year olds
People who respond like this
Should really think before
They open their mouths.
The Smokescreen of Advancement
I Pods, I Pads, Kindles, Skype
Lots of plastic different
Plastic screens
Emails instead of hand written letters
That do lots of amazing things
Look how far we have come
In the last few million years
From living in caves with fires
To living in houses
With central heating systems
“Things” have moved on
But people are still
Very primitive animals.
A Note on Extremism
To identify an extremist
You do not need to look
At their behaviour
You need to consider what
They say and their values
A clever extremist
Could hide their insanity
Behind a disguise of an
English gentleman
And still voice
Extreme opinions.
The Root of All Evil
Some say it is money
Some say it is religion
Some say it is greed
Some say it is insanity
Some say it is ignorance
But in all likelihood
Its roots grow will strong
When good men do noting
Vital Contributions
When we talk of contributing
To society we generally refer to tax
Tax contributions are useful
There are other forms of contribution
Which must not be absent
For society to function
Doctors, surgeons, teachers, lecturers
Intellectuals and scientists
Without these practical contributions society would collapse
Ze Ubermensch
Professor Steven Hawking
Sir David Attenborough
Mr Nelson Mandela
The Earl of Rochester
Richard Edwards
Ian Curtis
Vincent Van Gogh
Einstein
Mozart
Mr Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Christopher Lee, who now has
A mind of metal
And even poor misunderstood Frederic
These people deserve this
Grand title, this misunderstood term
To me this term means
Great individual
Not a retarded evil notion of a master race
It could be applied to most
Aliens from the Planet Nice.
When using poor old Frederic’s model.
A Further Explanation
Simply using a political parties name
To identify who and what they are
Is never a very useful thing to do is it
Indeed it is fraught with danger
There is nothing liberal or democratic
About what the Liberal Democrats
Have done in the coalition
The danger here is that
You will be exposed as a poor fool
Or worse still as lacking any brain cells
Therefore you should ascertain what
A political party really stands for
From what they actually do
Not just their party name
Think carefully in future.
There is A Difference Between these Two
Rejecting everything that is popular
Is one thing
However considering critiquing and questioning everything is quite another
Indeed simply rejecting everything that
Is popular because it is popular
Is quite irrational
However upon viewing something through
Neutral eyes considering all its components
Only to discover it has negative values
Or could indeed be harmful
This is a good reason for rejecting something.
A Polite Request
One promise I guarantee
Is absolute honesty
Not only regarding
That which is important
But also that which is trivial
I do not hint
I do not imply
I do not suggest
All that I request is that
I get guaranteed honesty
In return.
(I am affected, not because you have deceived me, but because I can no longer believe in you.)
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Dover thrift edition, 1997.
Liam Whetstone 