We are departing from our traditional Active Voice “tips” this month to bring you a collection of thought-provoking and evocative poems, created by us – the good folk of Voice At The Table. We asked everyone on our core team to “get creative” and we’d like to “gift” our rhymes to you as a Christmas treat. Enjoy…
Twenty-twenty came to a halt!
Twenty-twenty had a big fault;
All the world’s brainiacs, brilliant women and men;
Scrambling for a vaccine so we can party again!
But life goes on and we are near the end
Of this peculiar year when facemask is a trend
Lockdowns, quarantines, two metres, even better
The days of 2020, we shall fondly remember… not!
By Alice Hutton
Make America great again, he said
I will build a great wall, he said
We need global warming, he said
Grab them by the p*ssy, he said
I’m smart, I don’t pay taxes, he said
I don’t need to wear a mask, he said
The election was rigged, he said
Go away Donald, you’re done, the world said
By Jane Ashley
Dancing Leaves
Where do the leaves go?
When the wind blows?
Dancing and playing,
Twisting and turning
Funnelling upwards,
Spinning and falling,
Whirling like dervishes,
A Tango, a Rumba,
Better than Strictly!
Disruption
Disruption has upped its game
Disruption has just gone full-time
Disruption is here to stay
What are you going to do about it?
You can’t discipline it
You can’t make it redundant
You certainly can’t furlough it!
You just have to deal with it
How do you deal with it?
You have to meander, like a river runs through it
You have to find a way
Disruption is here to stay
You have to sit with it
Entertain it
Pour it a nice cup of tea
Interact with it
Even do a Zoom, when it feels like doom and gloom!
Disruption is our new and unknown best friend
Go on, I dare you, open your arms and give it a big warm hug!
By Joyce Osei
A Dreamer am I
Roses are red
Violets are blue
We all have our colours
Your beauty is within you
We bow to tradition
Convention is King
But people are different –
That’s the value we bring
Imagine a world full of Lemmings at work
Imagine the monotonous drone of their quirk
Forget creativity, forget innovation
All of us slaves of our own limitation
But enter the prize of a more tolerant mind: a creature of wonder – one of a kind.
Emotion is stirred
Our pulse quickly rising
Our sense of vitality oh so surprising.
Diversity is the intrinsic value we bring
Our beautiful minds full of marvel and zing.
Be sure to invite it – just open your mind!
The eyes will then follow – leave all fear behind.
Your roses still red and the violets still blue
But you’ve taken a leap
Now your dreams will come true.
Ahhh the ever-present voice of self-doubt
It sits in my brain, sucking the oxygen from the fire in my belly
“You can’t do this”, “no one cares”, “don’t bother”, it roars
And the fire, once raging, fuelled by an explosion of ideas
It dampens
Subdued by an impossible list
And yet the embers still glow
Persistent, impatient, encouraging
And so, I pause
Take a breath
Think
What is one thing I can do right now?
And I do it with no expectation of anything more.
By Jude Sclater
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