Thursday, 31 October 2024

Bleak October days. “Natural” disasters. Brave journalists. Guilty conscience poetry.


 It’s a rather bleak end-of-October day, perhaps ideal for Hallowe’en. But it’s not rained on me … yet! 


Our daughter is sending us pictures of Lancashire windmills and seemingly endless boardwalks. 


She and the children are undaunted by the gloomy weather and enjoying the seaside anyway. 

And according to weather reports, it seems that our son and family on holiday in Baiona have escaped the weather chaos affecting so much of Spain. 


In other parts of Spain they are still looking for missing people. I look at photos like this one of cars 

piled up in the street with other debris after flash floods hit the Sedaví area of Valencia. Pic in my photos. and wonder how you even begin to clear that up. 


Here is a photo of a mural in London, depicting a Palestinian journalist, Wael al-Dahdouh.


He was going to be a doctor but before he could go away to study at the age of 17 he was arrested, “charged with what he calls “the usual activities of the intifada” – throwing stones, burning car tyres, and confrontations with armed forces” and imprisoned for 7 years. This was back in 1987. “Israeli authorities demolished his family’s home. “House demolitions were regular during this time,” Zaanoun told me. “Sometimes they would half-demolish a house as a warning.” One or two rooms would be left for the residents to shelter in. If the warning wasn’t heeded, forces would return and demolish it all.”


Unable to become a doctor he studied journalism and was working for Al Jazeera when in October of last year when his wife and some of his children were  killed as reprisals for the October 10th attack got under way. “It was as he knelt down by (his 15 year old son) Mahmoud’s bloodied body that he let out his first cry, then uttered a phrase that would reverberate around the Arab world: “They took revenge on us through our children.”


And just over a year on, we still see the children being punished. Here is a link to the details of his story.


And here, in contrast, is The King and his Tutor again:


‘Do you think we represent civilisation?' said the King.

'Most certainly,' said the tutor, 'we have the civilised values of thousands of years behind us.'

'O that's good,' said the King, 'and are we recognised as such?'

'That's an interesting point,' said the tutor, 'because ironically, for thousands of years, we were regarded as the devil incarnate, outcast god-killers.'

'And then we became the opposite?' said the King.

'Indeed we did,' said the tutor, 'in a matter of years we have become the banner-bearers for all that's good about civilisation, particularly in this part of the world.'

'That's a relief,' said the King.

'And of course, we have taken on the job of fighting for civilisation,' said the tutor.

'Yes,' said the King, 'I like that, and we do it in civilised ways, don't we tutor?'

'Again and again and again,' said the tutor, 'we are spreading civilisation all the time, thoroughly and vigorously.'

'Do people appreciate this?' said the King.

'Surprisingly, some don't,' said the tutor, 'they berate us for being so thorough and vigorous.'

'What do you say to that?' said the King.

'I remind them that they are reverting to the times when they regarded us as the devil incarnate,' said the tutor. 

'You're very good at this, aren't you?' said the King.

'I like to think I am,' said the tutor.


Thank you, Michael Rosen.


And I sit here, safely writing this blog post, looking at photos of the family having fun. A friend of mine sent me this relevant poem:


MY PHONE IS FULL OF CUTE CATS AND DEAD CHILDREN.


It’s all I can do to keep from scrolling away

in favor of a kitten lolling in a sunbeam


or doing tricks for a piece of bacon; it’s all

I can do to watch to the end of the clip


of the boy in Gaza harvesting inedible leaves

insisting they are ‘cheeseweed’, he fills a bag


and will not believe the journalist who tells him

‘no habibi you cannot eat them’. He is starving.


Outside the sun is shining. I could take a walk

or eat an apple from the fridge, while else-


where, bombs are falling, snipers drop poets

and doctors in the streets. We watch it all


unfolding between our thumbs,  is it

doomscrolling or truthporn or bearing witness


and are Romans, watching and screaming

as the arena fills with blood. 


E.D. Watson. October 2024.


Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone. 

No comments:

Post a Comment