Home now to a loquacious press
and headlines that contest, refute
or simply ignore the story.
Offshore oil-flares light
a roiling horizon, rusted dereliction,
while the powers-that-be (the ones
that would be ours) stay silent
or rebut a sense of entitlement.
Faces prepared with such care
insist on our acceptance:
they are only human
and have been playing at gods.
These apples sit in a bowl.
They’re here and they’re ripe.
They’re playing at nothing
but being themselves.
Image: Marina Shiderova; text: Tom Phillips
