Trigger warning

How do we move forwards
when dissenters won't heed dissent?
When molehills become mountains
it's tempting, then, to resent
a forced upheaval,
unasked for,
surmounting nothing
particularly evil.

The way we spend our days

It's funny
The way we spend our days,
Some play on easy
And pay minimum wage.

It's funny
This mysterious game we play.
Mistakeable reality,
Unmistakeably real.

All at sea

How are we supposed to know
When that's all that we see?
Refugees all at sea,
And where should they go?

All at sea,
Our ideals, some reality.
We see them drown,
But where would we go?

Power to the people

Power to the people,
The future in their hands.
A fickle chalice runs
Through our fingers like sand.

Flying buttshakers of death

Shake your ass, but watch yourself.
Shroomed to delusion,
Flying buttshakers of death.

Boris and Burkas

Boris is a berk?
Well I never.

Boris a Nazi?
Not even slightly.

Bring balaclavas back?
Northern Ireland stylie.

Pints of Guinness all around,
Boris stands his ground.

Well I never,
Boris is a berk.

Boris a Nazi?
Not even slightly.

Between the mountain and the sea: Thought for Food

Between the mountain and the sea,
A city emerges,
Dancing
To the samba beat,
Which builds as the waves
Lap along the Copacabana shore;
Clapping along with the rhythm,
They rap on the door
Of the House of Carijó.

Rio,
Caipirinha in hands outstretched
In a fine Brazilian welcome;
For a multispectral carnival
Of Thought For Food
And food for thought.
Ideas,
Building to a crescendo
Of next generation dreams.

Dreams,
Which become reality
As the finalist teams come together to pitch
And learn, and share,
As part of a global family
Of change makers and game changers,
Who care
For a world in which, for many,
Food, water and nutrition are scarce.

A globally connected world,
Where ideas once stale
Now fly
Through optical fibres;
It is no longer good enough
To sit back and wonder why,
Who,
How, 
Where?

When many have plenty
But plenty more to give,
It’s on us to say here,
Now,
It’s time, let’s begin.
To catalyse a change,
We must innovate without,
Uproot the status quo
And renovate what’s within.

And where better to start than in Rio?
Between the mountain and the sea,
Where ten finalist teams
Come together to pitch 
And learn, and share,
As part of a global family
Of next generation dreams
That with Thought for Food
Become reality.

"Us and them" - Thought for Food Global Summit slam poem by Peter Bickerton, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2018

Us… and them.

As Pink Floyd said, after all,

We’re all just ordinary men

And women.

The media paints a painful picture.

Right versus left,

Black versus white,

Rich versus poor,

Humble versus might.

But a tinted lens

Blocks out shades of light

That might cast doubt

On crystal clear assertions.

The light shines

From every direction,

Reflects and refracts

Through multiple dimensions.

If, in election we’re defeated,

We must reach out and make the best of it,

Not retreat into bubbles

And preach out against it.

Yes, Donald Trump is a prick,

And it’s very easy for me to give him stick -

But he’s been nominated for a peace prize

And South Korea is backing it.

Multispectral thinking

Means looking from different perspectives…

Because...

Whether a climate change denier,

Or indeed - a believer,

Opulent omnivore,

Or frugal vegan…

We’re all complicit...

I want to to buy a fancy car

I want to travel near and far

I want to fly to Zanzibar

We're all complicit.

I want the latest Apple phone

I want to let my data roam

I want my life engraved in chrome

We're all complicit.

I want the latest fashion trend

I want to watch the money I spend

I want my Primani H&Emmed

We're all complicit.

I want my showers steaming hot

I want the stove to heat my pot

I want it all I want the lot

We're all complicit.

---

And what are we complicit in?

Overpriced tonic and German Gin?

Russian interventions in overseas elections?

Cambridge Analytica and Donald Trump’s erections?

<Google search> Ivanka Nudes </>

And there it appears on the news.

That wasted polar bear.

We all know the image, a billion shares.

Skin sagging over bones.

We pretend to care,

Hashtag “save the polar bear.”

But we don’t care about that bear…

As the climate quickly changes

We feign despair.

The mirror fills with steam

As the hypocrite

Shampoos his hair…

...we’re all complicit.

<Google search> Extinction </>

<Google search> Deforestation </>

<Google search> Environmental destruction </>

OK Google: What’s inside my smartphone?

Oil for plastic,

Copper, zinc -

And where do we find it?

We mine it.

And where do we look,

Once the reserves run dry?

We plunder the rainforests

And the animals still die.

It’s easy to chastise big business, big pharma, big ag:

But are we any wiser?

And where would we be?

Paper straws are a soggy needle in an oil-fueled haystack.

To uproot the status quo,

We must innovate without

And renovate from within.

Like all of these ten, wonderful finalist teams

Next generation dreams:

From snails to feathers,

Water and weather,

Fertilising grains,

And optimizing value chains.

Dairy and yoghurt,

Carrot-based chocolate,

Coating for shelf life

And respect for refugee life.

---

So a slice of positivity,

Through all this complicity.

In this globalised society

We have greater connectivity.

Yes, maybe a touch of human interaction

Would gain us a little more social traction

But just look at the tide of social action

Being played out through touch screens and optical fibres

Across the seas,

We’re making waves

With people, who otherwise,

We’d never have made acquaintance.

E agora cá estou eu no Brasil

Prazer em conhecer todos vocês, eu estou privilegiado de estar aqui nessa cidade maravilhosa.

I would never even be here if I hadn’t reached out

On Facebook, to Crissy Spice,

About Thought for Food and feeding the world

With ideas as much as calories.

Like every one of us here,

From Agriman to Agrospheres,

Connected.

Our biggest fears hold us back,

And keep us apart.

But together we’re set.

And where better to start than in Rio?

The House of Carijo...

Between the mountain and the sea,

Where ten finalist teams

Have come together to pitch

And learn, and share, and care,

As part of a global family

Of next generation dreams

That with Thought for Food

Win or lose,

Have every chance

To become

Reality.

Willing to lose

A throbbing mass

pulsing with black arteries,

plastic through veins,

rivers of tar.

The roads dug up.

Cars with no tyres,

no paint,

rusted stuck.

Industry on the pyre,

back turned,

facing

a rubber shot.

Keep calm and carry on (Brexit)

2016 was a terrible year,
They said.
Funny, because whenever I woke up
7am felt like any year in bed.

Drunk then, instead -
Illusions of a dream.
Shattered, at 7am,
It was unforeseen, they said