The previous Saturday had been billed as yet another “crunch” Brexit day, and I had been ready to face the worst. But, as things turned out, the Toad was left frustrated on that occasion. Today, however, another crunch had come. Anxiety had returned.
Was Brexit truly a set of developments that might still happen, probably still would happen ? Yes, certainly it was. But was Brexit really what Brexit supporters thought it was ? A solution to something real ? Or was it just a symbol of discontent, a symptom of ill-health in the body politic ? A kind of ritual sacrifice ? Surely that. And the more we talked and did Brexit, the worse the ill-health became. It seemed fitting that on this crunch day, Brexit was led by a lying toad whom no-one in his or her right senses would employ at any level, down to the lowest. Instead we had allowed him to steal into the role of “Prime Minister.”
This was written on Sunday 20th. Saturday’s huge demonstration in London was still being digested. But would it have any impact ? The right wing propaganda rags had gone beserk in their Sunday issues, more concerned with Parliament’s defiance of the Toad than anything the march might imply.
Courage had been shown in the House, in the face of more attempts at sculduggery on the part of our Mr Toad and Dr Doombeetle. And for a moment the fog cleared in the mind of this observer and I saw that Brexit has always been a delusion, a cause and conflict of no validity, nor end, a nothingness with no resolution, just a funny word to put a nation’s poison in.
The stanza was written on Saturday 19th October, yet another of those “crunch days.” Another enormous march took place in London, in support of a “Final say ” referendum. On the same day, Prime Minister Johnson had been expected to present his Brexit “agreement” to parliament, giving it virtually no opportunity to peruse the detail. In the event, parliament prevented him from doing so by passing a bill on the same day, requiring him to request an extension.
It seemed finally to be a matter almost simple, but utterly central : did we want to be governed by the lie, illusion, regression, severence – or by our recognition of things as they are, the fact and plain reality – and, following that recognition, offer an intelligent and honourable response to those things, seeking connection ?
“The Parrot Keeps Lecturing…” was written a day after the previous one, as news was coming in that – despite the DUP’s dissent – our Mr Toad had gone ahead and agreed a deal with the EU, for a “harder” Brexit than that envisaged by Theresa May in her earlier lengthy attempt. Her “deal” was of course rejected 3 times by parliament.
This toadie one was even more against the nation’s interests and prospects than hers. Yet in the terms of the madness we were living through, the fact that he had won the EU’s agreement to it, represented some sort of “victory” for him. Not for us.
There is a pun on Mr Toad’s desire to leave the EU on Halloween. “Trick or Treat.”
When this stanza was written, the UK’s Mr Toad was still working to meet the deadline for his “deal” for Brexit. A deal achieved in a matter of days, following all sorts of disgraceful and hooligan goings-on, such as unlawfully proroguing Parliament, etc.
And the EU seemed to be co-operating with him in this horrendous mickey-mouse charade. And it seemed clear that if he managed the deadline, if he achieved the date which he himself had set, that would be what the noise would be about, not the behaviour, not the low quality of the “deal” itself.
Would we stop to read what exactly our serially deceitful Mr Toad was wishing to visit on this nation ?
Were we ever going to wake us from this ghastly dream ?
Has the parrot started confusing himself with Dr Who ? And his cage with the Tardis ?
One thought here is that – post computers and social media etc – we are settlers in the new country, the new world, which these discoveries have made for us. Essentially, we are still strangers in it and adapting to it – or trying to. In the meantime, our surrounding psychological, social and legal frameworks are still essentially of the world we’ve left behind. We seek to apply them to present conditions and behaviour, but they don’t fit and therefore don’t work. They haven’t kept up. They were anyway perhaps unfit for purpose by now, due to overuse and natural wrinkliness.
So the link is to the proverbial Wild West. A new country where the hoodlums and outlaws are in control and having an easy time, running the main street. Wyatt Earp hasn’t arrived yet. Or he is slow on the draw. Whatever the case, the hoodlums and the maniacs are ahead of the game. They are so sure of themselves, they don’t bother to hide. On the contrary, they are running nations, smearing constitutions, despoiling temples.
This latest stanza was written after news came though yesterday evening that Damian Green MP had spoken with Mr Toad MP, Prime Minister, “eye to eye” and been reassured by the Toad’s word on it. But Mr Toad does not have a word. Does Mr Green ?
In case anyone needs reminding, Damian Green was demoted by Theresa May at some point, following a bit of fuss about pornography being discovered on his computer at work. It seems that the main reason he was punished in this way, however, was because he lied to the investigators about it, thereby breaking the Ministerial Code.
Thus, it’s fair to say that Damian Green has been sacked once for lying. And on public record is the fact that Johnson has been sacked twice. He has not yet been sacked for all the other times.
Interesting though, that someone who finds it all too possible to lie on his or her own behalf, still finds it important to be able to trust the word of others, whoever they may be, however serially duplicitous.
I’m uploading below a set of photographs of an exhibition I organised a few months ago, in Clifton Cathedral, Bristol. The picture above is just one example. Several pictures show, as this does, how the exhibition looked in its setting. Several more show single poems close up, the words made somehow even stronger in their setting here, against the stark concrete walls.
It has taken me a while to find ways to upload so many pictures all at once, without busting the memory bank. It’s now several months since the exhibition took place. But I feel justified in apparently harking back now. I believe that it said, and still says, something very topically relevant. And, through these images, it speaks to us with great power, urgency and beauty.
The exhibition taught me (I’m slow to learn) that words and what they mean cannot be isolated from context. The place or time in which they are read can also add to or detract from their power to reach through, to chime in with. Against the rough concrete surfaces of the cathedral, this place given over to expression and celebration of the sacred, I think the poems spoke with even greater strength than usually they do. Place and words spoke to and for each other. I shall keep looking for ways to publish the exhibition on the internet that will do it adequate justice.
“This is like a contemporary Book of Psalms”, someone said, on first seeing the poems set out there.
Clifton Cathedral was built in the late 60’s and early 70’s. It is a striking and impressive building, austere, majestic and yet inclusive. The exhibition took place on a large balcony within the cathedral. As well as the bilingual poems, it displayed a number of poems on mental disturbance. All the poems were formatted as posters, many enlarged – some to A2 size, a few to A0. A local photographer, Alan Thunhurst, took and then edited the vast majority of the pictures.
We’ve almost arrived at the pictures. I have taken a while to find and explore the various platforms one can use. This below is ok but I have not found a way to enlarge the pictures here. There is a Facebook option and that does give you that flexibility. But you have to be on Facebook first. Here : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009086896863&sk=media_set&set=a.2271411376505070&type=3
Google Photos provides another gallery setting and that too allows you to progress through the photos, enlarging as you go, if you choose : Here : https://photos.app.goo.gl/ajwMWSykbYYQxeSk7
