Troubadour - Ian Duquemin

You're carrying on like a troubadour jaded

Singing your songs from a time that has faded
Lyrics of meaning, though sung of a past
Each generation so wrongfully cast
Speaking of freedom in poetic words
Flying so high you could sing with the birds

You play your guitar with a heartful of passion
Dressed in the clothes that were yesterday's fashion 
You sing to the crowd that has gathered around 
Rooting your feet to the earth on the ground 
Spitting out protests of conflict and war
Hitting the strings till your fingers are sore

Everyone's here but is everyone hearing? 
Songs with a voice they are all disappearing 
Nothing rebellious happens today
There's nobody out there with something to say
Does anyone care 'bout a song anyway? 
And who gives a damn what the disc jockeys play? 

So carry on singing if nobody hears you
Be sure the words they are honest and true
Turn up the mic even if it's too loud
Raise up your voice to the dwindling crowd
If nobody hears it don't mean they can't listen 
If some of them did then you learned them a lesson 
And all of the others that turned a deaf ear
It just means they can't face the truth that fear

Ian Duquemin

I Pick Up The Phone - Trudie Shannon

I pick up the phone.
I dial your number.
And I wait for the message
That says the real you
Will call me later.
I don’t leave my name.
I don’t leave my number.
The real you has already left me.
Later
I pick up the phone.
I dial your number.
And I wait, knowing that if
The real you picked up the phone
I’d hang up.
In the meantime
I just wait in hope
Of the answerphone
Which tells me in your real voice
That if I’d like to
You will call me later.
A trite game.

Trudie Shannon

Enough Conceit - Chris Hudson

Yak yak yatter
Nic nik natter
How I hate the chit and chatter
Aimless as starlings
Pointless as meteorites
Abstract trajectories
Imperfectionaries
Colonists of the consciousness
You aim to fill with trash
Like directionless drivers
You provoke a CRASH!

Chris Hudson

Will The Revolution Be On Facebook? - Andrew Barham

The Revolution will not be televised
But it will be on Youtube
For our continued entertainment.
We will tweet it widely
Proclaiming its progress daily
Perhaps even hourly as it unfolds.
You'll confront it face on
In our status updates
And you won't need to google it,
Because it will be all over MySpace –
But, you Reddit here first!
And when it's all over
You'll be able to read about it
In Wikipedia.

Andrew Barham

Chinese Proverb - John Carré Buchanan

He lay there silent,
head tipped back,
a look of surprise
fixed in his eyes.

On his head
two black spots lie
separated by a maw
that was not there before.

The line of scarlet
crossed his brow.
He’d not had time
to utter 'ow'.

I remembered then
an old adage;

“Do not remove a fly
from your friend’s forehead
with a hatchet.”

John Carré Buchanan

Call Collect - Lyndon Queripel

Walls have ears
Be careful when you speak
Telephones have taps
And mine’s started to leak.

Lyndon Queripel

About Art - Kathy Figueroa

Art is a language with which we communicate
Comprised of lines both straight and broken
Of colours, hues and shades
A language where not a word is spoken

So much can be conveyed
By a scene, or enigmatic look
A painting can be like an essay
A gallery, like a book

Artists speak this language
Where words need not be said
A work of art is a story
Just waiting to be read

Kathy Figueroa