Over

That love can be blind
Is certainly true
That it can transcend age
Is really not new
But on the big screen
It's only ever one way
A much younger woman
Is an older man's prey

For our sexist culture
Is deeply ingrained
In their roles it is women
Who find themselves chained
It seems that equality
Is standing stock still
When in her mid thirties
She's seen as over the hill

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/21/maggie-gyllenhaal-too-old-hollywood

Calm

The peaceful calm
Of an empty room
Before you’re up
Before…Kaboom!

The floor usually covered
With scattered books
Toys inserted
Into narrow crooks

The sharp plastic pieces
That pierce your feet
Remain on the shelves
Everything neat

None of the frustrated
Tantrums and whines
Or vengeful looks
When I draw the lines

None of the tumbles
Or ungainly falls
That require a hug
When your crying calls

And I am left wondering
When you're not in my way
How I am meant
To start up my day

Crisis

Is this the sign of a species
That finds itself on the brink
The equivalent of pouring money
Down the planet's kitchen sink.

Public funding of Earth's destruction
On such an epic scale
In the coffin that we're making
We've banged in another nail.

And since the rich are profitting
They see no reason to confront
A crisis they'll be sheltered from
Where the poorest bear the brunt.

But just think what we could invest in
If fossil fuels paid their way
Equality and a green economy
Keeping catastrophe at bay.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/fossil-fuel-companies-getting-10m-a-minute-in-subsidies-says-imf

Beg

Maybe it's in the way they beg,
That brings your conscience down a peg,
The way they hunker down for heat,
Upon the stones right by your feet,
Holding a dog close by their side,
Appears for help with dented pride,
Their hopeless struggle day to day,
But still your eyes slide up and away.

And maybe you're just as helpless too,
In a world that favours a minor few.

Media

Why would you take it on?
The intrusions into everyday life
Following your every move
You, your family, your wife

Okay, the power and the fame
Could compensate a bit
But then you get the twitter trolls
Without intelligence or wit

Is it worth the private becoming public?
Every aspect satirised
All good faith decisions
With hindsight then revised

Society must have a think
About the role the media takes
Else we could see normal human beings
Replaced by watered down fakes

Up

The man with the gargoyle face
Sits under the streetlight
...waiting
The light splashes over him
Like a cheap cologne
Harsh on his sharp features.

The man with the sandals
Clips along in the darkness
...hurrying
The blackness washes over him
Like a boiling tar
Scalding his delicate skin.

The light and dark collide
Spiraling together
Into yin and yang.
A pair of words form a simultaneous question
Fear and hope in equal measure
"Going up?"

Reform

Our voting system
Where the few choose the result
Has unfair bias

Bunches of safe seats
A handful of marginals
Most left powerless

Reform is required
To enfranchise the country
Make politics just