BELIEVE NOTHING

'Believe half of what you see...
and nothing of what you hear.'

keith smith, dad of an old pedigree chum from not-in-gum

FIRESEED THE CONKERER!

hi there dear bluddies
here i am a-reviving
the noble art of conkering
with me pal eddie
misfortunately he was about to shatter my dreams
with a deadly hit!

WIDENING THE CIRCLE

'Our task must be
to free ourselves
by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature and its beauty.'

Albert Einstein

HOT SHAMPOO

x-ray machines
belt off, frisk you
standing in an endless queue
close surveillance
sniffer dogs in your face
looking for that hot shampoo
cruising through the sky
eight miles high
keep an eye
out for a dodgy guy
reaching for his hot shampoo!

hot shampoo
what is going through
the mind of this agent of death?
what's going on in his head?
is he a martyr to the cause?
or a psychopath who pours
oil on a flaming fire
stoking the funeral pyre?

don't we get what we deserve
playing with that hot shampoo?
goldfish memories
talking up the enemies
sending them the recipe through
diplomatic ties
cosmetic exercise
and pretty soon
between me and you
it could be raining down hot shampoo!

hot shampoo
what is going through
the minds of these agents of death?
what's going on in their heads?
are they fighting for our cause?
or psychopaths who pour
oil on a flaming fire
building the funeral pyre
ever higher?

SHAW THING

"Reasonable men adapt themselves to the world.
Unreasonable men adapt the world to themselves.
That's why all progress depends on unreasonable men."

George Bernard Shaw

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

(1 across, 2 cross, 3 across, 4 across)
in a phonebox on hope road
it's eating up the money!
give me some clues to where you're at
forgive me for the hurry
(1 across) creative cellar/seller
(2 down) two cool cats
(3 across) a ransom for a king
(4 down) tranquility for the skin
you're going right up to your room at the top
you're going right up and you ain't gonna stop
no, no, no, no!
crossword puzzle - trying to work it all out
crossword puzzle - trying to work it all out

on the top deck - bristol road
adding up the money!
crunching through the gears to where i'm at
trying not to worry
(5 down) difficult questions
(6 across) inconvenient truths
(7 down) unconventional wisdom
(8 across) discomforting news
i'm going right up to my room at the top
bump my head but i ain't gonna stop

no, no, no, no!

crossword puzzle - trying to work it all out
crossword puzzle - trying to work it all out

BACK FROM SOMEWHERE

a good day to ya, my little fireseedlings
and cheers for bearing with me
holding out for your sweet fireseed boy
during such a long empty silence!
was sincerely hoping to blog to ya whilst in ingerland
but the folks' local publick library in brum
was without an internet connection
which didnae allow me to go make a cuppa tea
in between each click
so even ya meek 'n' mild fireseed boy lost patience...

so how can i give y'all a snapshot
of the lass phew weeks?
well, first and foremost
twas grand to ketchup with a lot of luvly people
scattered across the sceptered isle
(crossing swords with virgin train buffet staff once again in the process):
the old folkies at home, o' course
(nanny 'barbiya', granddad, uncle johnny, aunty jean)
sabine, duncs and little ivy in norridge
canny lad colin - over veggy pub food mountain / real ale heaven in york
steve and minny in manchester
(cheers for the musical inspiration - i'm ever the musical expeditionist!)
dave, eunjin, jade and erin in stamford
eddie, tomako, tyler & ricky
alas, janice, me old aussie mate, twas not to be this time...
ingerland was:
overwhelmingly bushy and verdant
after the concrete fields of seoul
- green and pleasant even...
cool and wet
(in a nice kind of way)...
good for stocking up the threadbare wardrobe
(zara have some nice kit!)...
pricey - 30p to make a fonecall, £1.20 to jump onto a filthy brummy bus into town, 27 squid for a train-ride to manchester (but then what d'ya expect?)
twas luvly to be able to understand
what people were saying to ya
and talking about
(i miss eavesdropping!)
people are intresting - even when they're boring
like the walsall / forest footy fans on the train through lestersheer
30 mins of discussion about respective teams' first division fixture lists
- from memory:
'Who've ya got new years day?'
'Away at scunthorpe. You?'
'Home to darlington.'
etcetera, etcetera...

back in korea
jetlag with a vengeance
a lost suitcase
with all me clothes and camera in it
which turned up after three days
phew!
moved across the road
from mangwon il-dong
to mangwon i-dong
a snug little villa on the fourth floor
with a sexy roof garden
nailed our seahorse sculpture to the wall
to greet visitors with a wave (ha! ha!)
back to the steel and glass birdcage
back off the streets
back from somewhere
the journey continues...

bfn and see y'all soon, my seedlings
love f
x

THE CRAZY ONES

'Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.'

(Jack Kerouac)

THE WAY THE WORLD IS

"...state and business interests...gain from our being bemused, confused, diverted, distracted but, above all, resigned and passive in the face of 'the way the world is'."

(Extract from 'Free to be Human' by David Edwards)

NAKED WOMAN SPREADEAGLED ON KITCHEN TABLE!

yep
got home tonite to find a naked woman
lying spreadeagled on my kitchen table!
...hannah really will have to stop leaving her barbie dolls
lying around in a state of undress!
yes my little seeds
barbie has even invaded the household
of your favourite corporate-bashing eco-warrior
heavens to mergatroyd!
whatever next!
off to blighty tomorrow at dawn
love
your faithful fireseede
xxxx

RAINY DAY WOMEN #12 & 35

hi friends
its been a while
fireseed here at his early morning window seat
looking out as is his wont over the six-lane highway
commuter traffic streams by
the mists swirling furiously over inwangsan
the rain teaming down yet again
unfortunately there's no women here (not even a girl)
except for the ones i spy in the street below
heads down clutching their umbrellas:
'when the rain comes
they run and hide their heads
they might as well be dead'
lennon once sang somewhat uncharitably
(now there's a candidate for the best B-side ever)
as for the rainy day women
been reading some interesting speculations
on where that title came from
though it has always been one of my least favourite dylan songs)...
the mists shift again
pukhansan momentarily appears
just peeking its head above the ugly bank of fiveteen-story luxury apartment blocks
which ruin my view...
been meaning to head down to the riverside park
jogged down there a week or so back, friends
to find my usual route for jogging
and taking h for a cycle ride
totally submerged under two metres of flood water
dread to think what the riverbank looks like now!
spoiled by a rising tide of human waste
discarded plastic bottles
bits of dirty polystyrene
all manner of rubbish
washed up sadly
as a testament to human folly / folie
the jog i was talking about
ends up like a kind of weird dream sequence
the awforities close the eight-lane expressway
along the other side of the river
so there am i
running along a deserted seoulless highway
normally packed with little four-wheeled metal boxes
completely alone...
rain's getting heavier
acid rain
but its luvly to watch
therapeutic to hear the sound of na-cha
drumming on my windows
easing the incessant traffic roar
not much else to say for now, friends
ye olde fireseed's become a dull boy recently
all work and no play, you understand...
spare a thought for the lebanese
write a message on a banknote
write a letter to the prime minister
don't be silent
don't just accept it
hope in the dark
f
xxx

IGNORANT PROTECTIONISTS?

Extract from Alternatives to Economic Globalization - A Better World Is Possible

"The issue is governance. Will ordinary people have a democratic voice in deciding what rules are in the best interests of society? Or will a small ruling elite, meeting in secret and far from public view, be allowed to set the rules that shape the human future? If the concern of the decision makers is only for next quarter's corporate profits, who will care for the health and well-being of people and the planet?

These are increasingly serious questions for a great many people who live with the violence and insecurity that spreads through the world in tandem with growing inequality, unraveling social fabric, and the collapse of critical environmental systems. It is this reality of social and environmental disintegration that has brought millions of people together in a loose global alliance that spans national borders to forge what may be considered the most truly global and inclusive social movement in human history."

CORPORATOCRA$Y

money talks, money walks
blood spills, money kills
grasping hands, insane demands
power games, ill-gotten gains
blind faith, fail-safe
mesopotamia laid to waste
time bomb ticking on
in god’s name, what a crying shame!

hungry mouths, death shrouds
nuclear dread overhead
market forces, scarce resources
global warming, early warning
downsized, globalised
dislocated, terminated
biotech, genetic mess
GMO’s and fake logos

logging on, scrolling down
text a message, can't slow down
desktop breakfast, caffeine hit
skipping lunch, no time to quit
destress, detox
relationship is on the rocks
medication, pop a pill
wonder why it makes you ill

bulls and bears, stocks and shares
all your worst nightmares
M & A’s, FTA’s
hear-says and numbered days
focus groups, closed loops
ever feel like you’ve been duped?
legislate dissent as crime
permanent global summertime

death knell, rotten smell
whole damn planet gone to hell
the great machine on its knees
caught a terminal disease
empty spin, taken in
hair shirt dragged through the dirt
non-stop grid-lock
shareholders in the dock

carbon trading, power saving
unreality all pervading
monopoly, tautology
everything is greek to me
calamities, fatalities
hidden externalities
deunioni$ed, brutali$ed
brainwashed, airbrushed, neutrali$ed
corporatocra$y

everthing's for sale
everyone's available
every place the same
everywhere the corporation reign$

'MUMMY BUYED IT FOR ME'

...so said hannah today...
having read the theory
(skinner, chomsky, krashen, donaldson et al)
its fasinating to observe our own little one
taking her first linguistic steps
hannah has never heard anyone say 'buyed it' of course
but she's learnt that when we talk about the past
we often stick a 'd' sound on the end of a verb
like 'play' changes to 'played'
so the clever little thing's applying the same rule
another great example:
hannah talking about an empty glass of orange juice
on the kitchen table
'I had no all,' says hannah
she means 'I didn't drink it all, (daddy finished it off)'
but i much prefer hannah's version!

THE TIPPING POINT

lessons learnt from rereading The TP...

1) focus your resources on the connectors, mavens, and salesmen
2) focus on the stickiness of the message
3) consider your context carefully
4) test your intuitions
5) keep believing that real change is possible