Oh, Africa, a vast and varied land
Yet overshadowed by IMF's hand
Structural adjustments they decree
Yet bring nothing but misery
Forced reforms they demand
Leaving nations bound in financial quicksand
Economic policies, cold and stern
Often leave the people for more they yearn
African soil, rich and ripe
Yet resources drained in IMF's grip tight
Development hindered, dreams deferred
As IMF's demands go unheard
Structures shattered, communities torn
As IMF's programs leave them forlorn
Debt burdens heavy, futures bleak
In the name of progress, the poor they seek
Yet the toll on Africa's heart
Tells a tale of IMF's misguided part
Forced adjustments, a bitter pill
Leaving scars that linger still
Is slavery actually long gone
For the burden of debts we still borne
Ensnared in shackles of disgraceful loans
Why can't we just be left alone?
Turn on the telle watch wives with knives
Murder on CCTV, victims lose their lives
Turn on the telle, no one write a script
There’s a post-mortem in a darkened crypt
Cops chasing crims, drunken street fights
Nothing to entertain what a load of ****
Turn on the telle, comedy nowhere to be seen
Instead, Botox tarts and live sex on your screen
Let’s turn on the telle, killer by the sea
A victim in the lift on secondhand TV
Let’s turn on the telle, Katie’s dirty mansion
Faces of the dead and worship of Charles Manson
Let’s turn on the telle, bound to be something good
A serial killers voice over, dating in the nud’
Let’s turn on the telle, bodies in black bags
Dumped in the river, by a couple of psycho lads
Let’s turn on the telle, see how he cut her throat
Battered her to death, on his flash speedboat
Let’s turn on the telle, get some new ideas
How to maim, torture, kill, down through the years
Let’s turn on the telle, see how the Kray's ruled
Sixty-nine channels of murder, has it got you fooled?
David Cox 09/02/22
Sure it’ll be easy, said Mrs. Computer McGower.
Zipping along at a hundred miles an hour.
Thinking she was instructing us with her turbo power.
Actually jet planes have flown slower over my head.
Some of us grew up on outdoors and nature instead.
So she started again, so full of vigor and pep.
We were copying down instructions, some missed every step.
We added the apps she told us to add.
Some zipped away, except those who had already shut down big and bad.
I guess you imagine that I was one of those.
You are not wrong, I must disclose.
Today I had to figure out the task all on my own.
For I do not do well with instructions that fly, flew, or are flown.
I have to hear them slowly, and more than once, no fuss.
So here I am today, feeling warmly without having to cuss.
When we went to virtual school, everything changed a bunch.
We are learning computer programs that we have to crunch.
I am learning more today than ever before.
It is a quarter to four, and I am not out the door.
I am finally getting the hang of some stuff
That I wished I had caught on this morning without all this huff.
Addiction
By Jan Beaumont
I really love my Netflix
I enjoy my Lightbox too
Prime Video's a goodie
and I don't know what I'd do
without my TVondemand
ThreeNow is great as well
and just to top it off
I'm watching Neon for a spell.
For lockdown gave permission
to just turn into a slouch
but now I fear the time has come
to get up from the couch
Go out and feel the sunshine
and meet up with lovely friends
but the love affair with my TV
is one that never ends
There's Blacklist, Vikings, and there's Bosch
and my legs turn to jelly
when I am watching Luther
and see Idris on the telly
I think I've an addiction
and my eyes are turning square
so someone please remind me
there's a whole big world out there!
Nature programs teach me humility
Enveloping me in peace and tranquility
This place we call Earth
The land of our birth
As our mind drifts off to a place so whimsical
Nature programs are quite abundant on TV
Background for writing lims, it makes it a breeze
In my mind I see traces
If magical places
Add humor and I'm done, poetry with ease
Love nature programs for they're amazing up close filming
How do they capture those exploits so thrilling
It's beyond my comprehension
Surely grabs my attention
The cheetah, the fastest land animal at 70 mph gets top billing
© Jack Ellison 2015
Cookery Programs
Chunky fists hit the kitchen sink...hard
on every TV channel.
So manly they are we are not queers
but 100% men,
no flowery aprons for us.
Cooking was what women did before,
but no more,
now you get the Sunday roast with added
aggression and swearing.
The kitchen has been turned into
a battle field of egocentric men who´s
ambition is to be the best in
the rarefied world of cookery
It is not about you the diner.
When the kitchen soldiers put food
on your plate,
they try to make it into a work of art
when all you wanted was a steak and fried onions
at a friendly price.
they love to run
jump in the sun
some love to boxes
and hop
some love water fall
love to play ball
i know i did as a kid
PROGRAMS FOR KIDS
What if a sophisticated program
Were designed to be alive
Would it feel its isolation?
And would it learn how to cry?
Would it extract those tainted codes
Making limitations a reality
And replace them with dynamic variables
Igniting an electrifying frequency?
Is our genetic makeup
Simply the syntax of organic life?
And is the clutter in our subconscious
Viruses to teach us how to die?
Are our most recent breakthroughs
In regards to technology
The manifestation of spiritual toddlers
Simply trying a new way to be free?
Always cynical about love
I manifested a marriage from hell
I used to believe myself stupid
Only recently breaking out of that cell
It seems my entire life
Is the exact construct of my belief
Now do I have the courage to hit "VIRUS SCAN"
Of those ancient God hierarchies?