Political Jungle

Our Backyard

In our backyard

there is a jungle

where the animals

mate and mingle.

Trees upside down

wet weird paint.

Have you seen the clown

posing saint?

Have you heard the speech

of the monkey,

of the sucking leech

and the junkie?

In our backyard

there is a jungle.

Hear the animals'

every angle.

Comments

Eve Ryman

I love this poem - the second verse is absolutely stunning, particularly the clown posing as a saint.

In the third verse, I was concerned at first that you might be saying "drug addicts are just animals", which I thought rather lacking in compassion - but when I thought about the "sucking leech", that made me think more of drug dealers, who are of course attended by drug addicts, and I started to think you didn't mean it the way I first took it.

Excellent stuff!

Eve Ryman

It's got a nightmarish, hallucinatory quality that I really love.

Wael Nawara

Thanks Eve.

Actually come to think of it, when you first mentioned the issue of the junkie, you will not believe what came to my mind. I thought you meant the line may show lack of compassion towards animals!

Wael Nawara

But then, the whole jungle is fake. The unnatural colors give it up. The wise monkey is not really wise. The lion is scared shitless. The clown who is posing saint did not even bother to disguise.

Eve Ryman

You really made me think hard, with the third verse. The "sucking leech" is an excellent image, because it works on so many levels - drug dealers sucking the life out of their 'clients', pimps sucking the life out of prostitutes, capitalists sucking the money out of consumers, greed and exploitation in general. Really, really wonderful.

Eve Ryman

Yes, I see what you're getting at with the fakery - the upside down trees and weird, wet paint get that one across very well. Nothing in this place is as it seems.

Wael Nawara

Thanks :)

It all started on Photoshop where I was fooling around with color variations. But then I liked it. I saved a cropped part of the photo at a certain stage and decided to post it! But then Facebook prompted me for Description, and in came that foolish poem :)

Eve Ryman

Anything but foolish! Very well observed, I'd say. It evokes the city excellently - but more than that, it evokes the political landscape, too.

Wael Nawara

Indeed. Politics and power contain a great deal of addictive qualities. Most politicians unfortunately thrive on sucking energy from those around them, be it ambitious young people at the political scene, or deserted wives and families at suffering homes.

Eve Ryman

Sadly, I have to agree that this is true of the majority of politicians.

It occurs to me that what you say is true of ambition in general - so many people sacrifice their morals on the altar of their career (especially in terms of the deserted wives and families).

Wael Nawara

When I saw Lord of the Rings, I thought to myself, wearing the Ring grants powers, but it distorts one's soul beyond recognition !

Eve Ryman

Yes, the Ring is a terrifyingly accurate metaphor for power.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - Lord Acton, 1887...

Note the *almost*, though - there is hope.

Wael Nawara

And you are right about ambitions and temptations - they can, have done and will blind the wisest of men ...

There is always Hope. I think they should devise a Nobel Prize for Hope :)

Mohamed El Borhamy

very short .. very impressive .. it's meaningful versification

Wael Nawara

Thanks Borhamy !