George Osborne You Don't Know You're Born

George Osborne,
Forlorn moron.

Two million pounds,
Still on the scrounge.

Fare to pay,
No fair, no way.
Some other chap may
Have been fined that day.

Rightly booed,
Resent renewed.

George Osborne,
You don't know you're born.

Sandy Storm Into New York Borne

Sandy storm into New York borne,
Nature warning of future form.

Icy caps in the North collapse.
Brought forth, aghast, industrial past.

And present; for there is no repent,
Resources plundered with scarce dissent.

Blindly uncaring excuses unbearing,
Never rare the warnings of excessive fare.

Paradise Islands prepared for demise,
No halting the bite of rising blue tide.

Seychelles, Maldives and Mauritius as well,
A tale of perilous sinking to swell.

Sandy storm into New York borne,
Future form nature doth foretell.

One Young World - A Poetic Recollection

 In Pittsburgh, the old steel city
We bold young leaders came in droves
In Pity;
Of a world of illiteracy.
Of starvation and obesity.
A World lacking passion, compassion and dignity.

Along the river, amongst flags that flew
No fewer than 183 countries cruised
And knew;
Those they’d not known before
While those who had renewed relationships more.
New friends alighted together ashore.

Beside the banks – side by side we strode
Like lines of ants toward the Heinz in ranks
To behold;
One Young World awakening.
Philharmonic violins playing cold.
An infant chorus warming hearts of the old.

Distinguished councillors recounted their wisdom
From Geldof, to Yunus, to President Clinton
Who told us;
We must sustainably change tack,
Inequality holds us back,
Insecurity unfolds and withholds us.

Day one, immediately a pledge to end illiteracy
And next Jamie Oliver’s special on obesity
A crisis;
Of one billion worldwide
While millions have no food to buy.
These problems are inextricably tied,

Which is why- Amid boxes and greenery
Was planted the Thought for Food social machine
To uproot;
The unjust status quo,
Novel solutions to grow,
To harvest a secure food future for all.

On Saturday – a chance to break out.
With Hip Hop on LOCK we recorded one beat
At Yo Momz House.
Then the evening complete;
All around town we sat down to eat,
International children in family seats

Along came Sunday – a fond farewell
But not before Kofi Annan could tell
A story;
Of a life in service.
Of sacrifice to nations united.
Of genocides, civil wars and international crisis.

Young leaders, let this be a message.
Let’s not mess things up like previous generations
And pledge this;
To end poverty and illiteracy,
To end hunger and obesity,
To bring equality, security and sustainability

And finally, a thank you to the founders.
To the great Kate Robertson and David Jones
Who found us;
Who brought nations together,
Fostered friendships forever.
It is upon us to change the world for the better.
One Young World – it’s now or never.

Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves turning
Red, yellow, orange, auburn.
One changing Young World.

One Young World - A brighter future

One Young World draws near.
In Pittsburgh, the aim is clear;
Our future Leaders
Joining together as one
For a brighter day to come.

Stop the slaughter of English badgers

As autumn leaves fall,
Badgers face galling slaughter;
An apalling call.

What is reality?

New Scientist lately asked what is reality?
Seemingly life's not as it appears to be,
But for you or me reality is all that we see.
Thus as Gandhi once so wisely decreed,
Be the change in the world that you want to see.

Natural pesticides

In the media there's been recent news;
In America since GM was introduced
Pesticide use has gone through the roof.

It was projected that their use would fall
But it's folly we use them on bugs at all,
Insects are food not pests that gall.

In Japan, in paddies by searching you can
In two days find ample food for a family.
Sixty eight kilos of 'hoppers per man.

In fact in the days when grain was surplus
Some said the excess may serve a purpose -
Abundant forage for nutritious grasshoppers.

Alas in these times of fast food culture
Traditional foods are neglected, asunder.
Insects seem repugnant, causing confused wonder.

Yet to this, worldwide, many take exception -
Viewing insects as pests is a misconception.
We should change our attitude to crop protection.

We could take a lesson from the Mexicans
Who harvest Sphenarium purpurascens.
Near Puebla they gather these bugs in their thousands.

This reaps rewards for local families,
Paid to protect the alfalfa fields annually,
Who make an extra three grand in salary.

This symbiotic practise, too, helps farmers,
As research by Cerritos and Cano-Santana
Shows spraying is hardly any better than capture.

Insecticides are ecologically bad,
Ignoring this would be both sad and quite mad.
Imagine the grub that with capture could be had.

During this worldwide economic downturn
With jobless masses who employment yearn,
In the fields we could deploy some to earn.

This strategy seems entirely sensible,
To save the planet we need change that's radical.
The way things are going is completely maniacal.

Locusts are Kosher

Locusts are Kosher
It says so in the Torah
So let's eat locusts.

An insect eating terza rima - poetry day UK

Orthoptera contain abundant protein,

Which can be up to three times greater than beef

And is just as digestible as casein.

When you consider they only eat leaf,

A nineteen percent gain in body mass

Is without doubt a quite substantial feat.

Sustainable cows can be reared on grass

Alas the same can’t be said for ranches

That ensure climate change will soon come to pass.

Just one look at evolutionary branches

Suggests that insects are cleaner than meat.

Cows, pigs and chickens all cause diseases.

The majority of food that insects eat

Goes to make carbohydrates, fats and protein

While most of what livestock eat they excrete.

Grasshopper fats are incredibly lean

With similar levels as chicken and fish

While nutritionally they out-compete beans.

Thus on poetry day I have but one wish:

Insects one day take pride of place on the dish.

Time we confined the steak knife to history

The majority of our livestock are reared on the most fertile land,
While many of our crops are grown on land turning to sand.

This outrageous discrepancy is quite clearly lunacy,
So I propose we commence changing our consumption completely.

Insects can be raised in vertical farms, in cities,
Which would allow crop productivity in regions with greater fertility.

If we care about the malnourished, starving and hungry,
Then it's about time we confined the steak knife to history.