A waltz can be stopped
when one partner sits down,
but for a dance to be danced
both partners are needed.
A war can be caused
by the actions of one,
but for peace to be peace
both parties are needed.
After the news of Trump’s calling Putin about the end of the war in Ukraine, I’m hoping his approach is more than mere appeasement.
(13.02.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Marko Zirdum
We’ve seen the rubble,
The shattered lives
And hospitals.
We’ve seen demolished
Dreams, and
Universities.
Good news my friend,
We have decided
To lend a hand.
Let us take over;
Kick back your feet,
Relax and sleep,
While we send in
The bulldozers
To build a mall,
Hotels that gleam,
Landscaping and
A golfing green.
What’s that you say?
Don’t worry about,
Just where you’ll live.
I’m sure someone
Will put you up
Somewhere, somewhen,
And hopefully,
When they do,
You’ll have a good view,
Of our brand new,
gleaming neighbourhood.
An instinctive response to Trump’s latest declaration.
(05.02.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash
The changing of the guard
From old to over-ripe,
From male to male again,
From white to sort of white.
The pointing of the finger
At all ‘wrongs’ but your own.
The boasting in the playground,
The constant need to moan
A snatching of desires,
A bedeviling of the other,
A building up of walls,
An acceptance of the liar
It makes you wonder when
A proper change may come,
With hope for all the people,
To let us dream as one.
Today is Trump’s inauguration. Like many I am uneasy about the political implications. I can’t help but feel that rather than become great again, American has got stuck in some nightmare rut of alpha testosterone. (Today is also Main Luther King Day in America.)
(20.01.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Stephen Walker on Unsplash
It’s not enough to take our jobs,
And skulk upon our streets in mobs
Be housed in what were once our flats,
Apparently they’re eating cats
They come here for an easy ride
An onslaught that’s a rising tide
And swarming like a cloud of gnats
Apparently they’re eating cats
Their aim is to corrupt our children
Destroy all our fathers built us
And now we find on top of that
Apparently they’re eating cats
This is the heart of Donald’s moaning
To tell the truth it’s all baloney
Like much he says it’s made up, phoney,
So laugh with Kamala when Trump claims that
The immigrants are all eating cats
Trump’s absurd one-liner in last night’s presidential debate just had to be turned into rhyme…
(11.09.24)
© Ben Quant 2024
Photo by Lloyd Henneman on Unsplash
Ode for the Day 