Rabbits and juggernautsIt is a dark, moonless road,
chill after the incessant downpour
and we are paralysed with fear
in the headlights of world attention
as the juggernaut of financial meltdown
accelerates towards us.
The days of gaily tumbling
down grass-lush hills
have slipped into a kind of folk legend.
Oh why did we ever think
that there was more to life
than fighting and copulation?
To the left or the right?
Even if we knew which dank ditch
offered the greater chance of escape,
we would still remain frozen
to the thick white line
of party political gamesmanship.
I love the metaphor of the rabbit and the road. I had to look up "juggernaut" because it is one of those words that you hear, but can't always define offhand. The interesting thing for me is that it has multiple meanings and they are all suitable to your poem. I'm thinking particularly though of the particular U.K. usage meaning, "lorry".
ReplyDeleteThis is really good. The second verse for me(as one who has bought right in to that "folklore") is stellar.
Kat
Kat
your line of "down lush-green hills" created a visual of The Sound of Music... haha... you say it all just right, 'fighting and copulation'....
ReplyDeletewhat would our ancestors say?
Fighting and fecking? That's all there is? I'm hopeless at both of them!
ReplyDeleteGood strong poem/imagery/truth, there Pete, I like it, and forgive me, I like that it doesn't rhyme.
This is a fine bit of writing. Great initial image, perfectly pursued.
ReplyDeletefun way to look at life.
ReplyDeleteyour idea of rabbit and judgment is refreshing to me.