Re-posting

Looks like old posts disappear.  So here’s a re=post of one that’s gone for friend Shawna:

Madness

You don’t have to be mad to work here,
but it helps.
Yelps of consternation sweep the nation
unnerving the world
as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorder is unfurled.

DSM-5
The book on which drug companies thrive.
The psychiatrist’s bible.
If you read it you’re liable
to discover you’re not all there,
madder than the maddest of mad march hares;
mad as an Englishman having fun
out in the midday sun;
barking mad as a rabid dog,
or hopping mad as a box of frogs;
mad as a sandwich short of a picnic,
nutty as a fruit-cake,
crazy as a coot,
just plain old-fashioned lunatic.

In one way or another,
blame it on your father
or maybe on your mother
if you’re hyper, if you’re tired,
if you’re dull or if you’re fired,
if you’re sacked or not been hired,
if you’re a pathologic liar,
if you yearn to be admired,
parade on beaches unattired,
if you’re brain stem’s wrongly wired,
if your sanity’s expired
you have a Mentally Acquired
Disorder,
or you’re MAD in short.
You’re caught in the DSM-5 disorder trap.

Are you compulsively tidy, obsessively neat?
You’ve an order disorder.
Is your hedge the wildest in the street?
You’ve a border disorder.
Are you agnostic or don’t believe?
That’s a Lord disorder.
Do you collect stamps or pressed dried leaves?
You’ve a hoarder disorder.
Does no-one listen to what you say?
That’s a being ignored disorder.
Do you clap persistently to get your way?
An applauder disorder.
Do you want to bring happiness every day?
A rewarder disorder.

One thing is certain,
one thing is true
this is a spiral of catch 22.
But no matter what,
no matter who,
no matter which,
it’s important to be rich
to afford a disorder.
Or maybe join the official list
of those acquainted with matters like this.
Yes train to be a psychiatrist
with your very own
broader disorder disorder.

17^th May 2013

Notes:  “New US manual for diagnosing mental disorders published.”  The field of mental health faced its greatest upset in years with the publication of the long-awaited and deeply-controversial US manual for diagnosing mental disorders.  Early drafts of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, have divided medical opinion so firmly that authors of previous editions are among the most prominent critics

Epilogue

Although I still have a lot of poems from last year’s headlines to publish I’ve decided to call a halt to the Janus project since it’s taking up time which I want to spend on other projects this year.

The most significant of these is “Keats’ Ghost” which is trying to create the spirit of a town through verse, the town being Teignmouth where Keats once lived for a short while.  I hope some of you have had a look already at the growing collection which not only features verse but links through to associated features of the town, its history, its activity.

You can access it through the Pherecrates home page or direct via:

Keats’ Ghost

Meanwhile …….

Sometimes looking forward,
sometimes back,
capturing a snapshot of the time,
the headlines swing and sway,
ruling for a day.

Mayfly transient.
Vanished in the blinking of an eye.
Hopefully they’ve made you think,
smile, laugh, pray, cry,
wonder why.

But most of all,
now last year’s course of verse is run,
I hope you feel enthralled.
I hope you’ve had some fun.

Au Revoir

Inquiry reports on Stafford Hospital deaths scandal

One year ago today and the public enquiry report was published condemning the standard of care patients had experienced at Stafford hospital over many years.  It pointed to neglect, negligence, lack of compassion and management failure all the way up the chain.

 

What Went Wrong?

The doctors struggling everywhere
and nurses with compassion gone.
Management who did not care
in a hospital gone wrong.

Where does the diagnostic blame belong?
Were they worried, in despair?
Did they feel so put upon,
the doctors struggling everywhere?

Patients lay and festered there
in beds unchanged for oh so long,
thirsting in Mid Staff’s nightmare
and nurses with compassion gone.

They needed guidance to be strong,
to summon up a strength that’s rare,
to challenge what they felt was wrong –
management who did not care.

The systems were beyond repair;
process not people, the same old song.
So much to do, the facts laid bare,
in a hospital gone wrong.

The Health Authority head moved on
to lead the NHS, and we despair.
Is that where Nicholson belongs,
management who did not care?

 

6^th February 2013 – headline from the BBC

Notes:  “Inquiry reports on Stafford Hospital deaths scandal”.  Upto an estimated 1200 patients died as a result of poor care between January 2005 and March 2009 at Stafford hospital.  The often horrifying evidence that has emerged means “Mid Staffs” has become a byword for NHS care at its most negligent.  A full public inquiryreport, produced by Robert Francis QC, was scathing and cited a litany of failings in the care of patients. “For many patients the most basic elements of care were neglected,” he said. Some patients needing pain relief either got it late or not at all. Others were left unwashed for up to a month. “Food and drinks were left out of the reach of patients and many were forced to rely on family members for help with feeding.” Too many patients were sent home before they were ready to go, and ended up back in hospital soon afterwards. “The standards of hygiene were at times awful, with families forced to remove used bandages and dressings from public areas and clean toilets themselves for fear of catching infections.” Patients’ calls for help to use the toilet were ignored, with the result that they were left in soiled sheeting or sitting on commodes for hours “often feeling ashamed and afraid”.  Misdiagnosis was common.  The appalling care and neglect uncovered at Stafford Hospital did not develop overnight. Warning signs had been in evidence for years but were ignored or overlooked by every organisation responsible for regulating the NHS, up to and including the Department of Health.  NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has also come in for criticism as previous head of the health authority.  In his evidence to the inquiry he said he did not think Stafford represented a systematic failure as it had been the only case uncovered on such a scale.

A Moral Trilogy

One year ago yesterday and three moral issues were in the headlines: the vote in favour of the Marriage Bill (same sex couples); the acceptance, at last , of guilt by the Irish government in the scandal of the Magdalene laundries; and the revelation of the conspiracy of cooperation with the CIA in its ‘rendition’ programme.

 

Gay? Let’s implore the House today to change the law. Let’s pray. Magdalene, catholic, austere, stripping, whipping, unforgiving. No sisters of mercy here, just slavery. Rendition, cowardly, false; watering, electrocuting, torturing. Morality, humanity is lost in perdition. Magdalene. Betrayed, enslaved, crying, weeping, dying. At last someone has heard. Apology. Gay. Oh boy, marriage legal now. Let’s celebrate with pride and joy.

5th February 2013 Notes:  Three ‘moral issue’ headlines today: “Gay marriage: MPs back legislation”.  The Commons voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, by 400 to 175, at the end of a full day’s debate.  The Prime Minister described the move as “an important step forward” that strengthens society.  About 140 Conservative MPs are thought to have voted against the plans. “Magdalene laundries: Ireland accepts state guilt in scandal”.  Following the McAleese report Ireland has officially recognised the state’s guilt in the “enslavement” of more than 30,000 women, the “Maggies”.  They were sent against their will to the Magdalene laundries, run by various orders of nuns, where they received no pay, no pension and no social protection, serving in some cases “life sentences” simply for being unmarried mothers or regarded as morally wayward.  The inquiry into the Magdalene scandal was finally prompted by a report from the UN committee against torture in June 2011. Magdalene laundry victims are commemorated with a memorial in Glasnevin cemetery. “Rendition: How 54 nations – and ‘Axis of Evil’ – cooperated with CIA in wake of 9/11”.  More than a quarter of the world’s countries provided covert assistance to the United States in its extraordinary rendition programme in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, including some branded by Washington at the time as members of the ‘Axis of Evil’, a human rights group has claimed in its report “Globalising Torture”.

Richard III dig: DNA confirms bones are king’s

Battle of Bosworth (in Blackpool Town Hall)

One year ago today and it was confirmed that bones discovered in a Leicester car park were those of Richard III.  Was he a monster, as portrayed by writers throughout history?  Or was he much maligned with a story shaped by the political convenience of the time?  Here’s a view with thanks to Shakespeare for borrowed quotations within the poem, some altered to fit the context.

 

No Chance to Live So Long

In this our winter of discontent
it’s been confirmed.
In battle slain, in death uncrowned
the king’s been found.
Beneath a Leicester car-park site
the scoliotic bones of crookback Dick
have come to light.

No horse, a kingdom lost and then a life.
A mutilated body,
pierced by spear, dagger, sword and knife,
un-kingly dragged from Bosworth field,
sealed un-coffined in a simple earthy grave,
in Greyfriars church he lay.
So wise, so young they say
do rarely live so long.

The Tudors took the chance to spin
and weave a tale that much maligned
that hunchback king.
They went to every length
to desecrate that tower of strength,
the last of House of York,
Richard, crookback Dick, the third.
They spread the word.
Two princes in the tower dead.
Off with his head!
His evil deeds,
the twists and turns that history believed.
How much is history really worth?
The world had grown so bad
that wrens made prey
where eagles dared not perch.

Conscience is a word that cowards use
devised at first to keep the strong in awe.
But history has a conscience too
and truth will out
the inconvenient truth that will reveal
that what we once believed
we can believe no more.
Richard the Third,
no longer much maligned,
will now be nobly re-interred,
consigned to lie within a holy place
fitting for a king to grace.
A king so wise, so young
who had no chance to live so long.

______________________________________________________________________________
4^th February 2013 – headlines from the BBC

Notes:  “Richard III dig: DNA confirms bones are king’s”.  A skeleton found beneath a Leicester car park has been confirmed as that of English king Richard III.  Experts from the University of Leicester said DNA from the bones matched that of descendants of the monarch’s family.  Lead archaeologist Richard Buckley, from the University of Leicester, told a press conference to applause: “Beyond reasonable doubt it’s Richard.”  Richard, killed in battle in 1485, will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral.

 

Hair today, gone tomorrow

One year ago yesterday a scandal hit the Japanese pop culture.  For this Japanese story I decided to return to Japanese verse form.  The first verse is a Tanka, which just tells the story, although traditionally the Tanka is unrhymed.  The middle verse is a Senryu which is similar to a Haiku in construction but tends to be about human foibles.  Then I used a variant of a cinquain to give a western perspective.  The interesting aspect of this story for me is exploring the cultural contextualisation of the concept of ‘shame’.

Shame A.K.B.4.8’s Minami Minegishi on illicit date. Kowtows to the public blame. Shaven head hangs low in shame. Inner soul of guilt, laid bare, caught in culture’s frame, blamed, distraught in shame. Accepting blame, guilty, cringing, despairing, bowed, cowed, shaven in her culture’s frame, Minegishi pays the public price, recants out loud. Ironic shame.

1st February 2013 – headline from the Independent Notes:  “Hair today, gone tomorrow: Japanese pop star Minami Minegishi shaves head after getting caught having sex”.  A week ago Minami Minegishi was a silken-haired jewel in one of Japan’s pop music crowns, the all-girl group AKB48.  Now, she has shaved her hair after issuing a tearful online mea culpa for disobeying one of the cardinal rules in Japan’s squeaky clean pop idol world. Her crime? She slept with her boyfriend.

Nursery ratios raised ‘to improve standards

One year ago yesterday and the government was positioning itself for educational reforms.  This one was taking the continental model, essentially of employing graduates in nursery schools.  Questionable.  I haven’t heard anything more about it.  I suspect it was just another of those political headline-grabbing statements.

 

IT’s Childs Play

It’s child’s play on the continent,
where it seems there’s overall assent:
a child’s formative years of ABC
need a PhD in psychiatry.
Really?  No.  I jest!  That’s not quite what I meant.

For certain there’s educational intent
for academic grades to complement
the caring skills there need to be –
it’s child’s play.

They’ve surely set a precedent,
a pointer, claim our government
that academically qualified staff would be
good for the child, reducing costs for you and me –
more kids, less staff to implement –
it’s child’s play.

 

29^th January 2013 – headline from the BBC

Notes:  “Nursery ratios raised ‘to improve standards‘”.  Nurseries and childminders in England are to be allowed to look after more children, in a package ministers say will improve quality and cut costs.  The ratio of children to carers can be raised, but only if carers’ qualifications meet new standards.  Children’s Minister Liz Truss said the proposals would make more childcare places available and reduce costs for parents in the “long term”.  But she came under fire for citing other European countries which allow nursery workers to look after more children than in Britain.  Critics warn the change in ratios could actually compromise quality of care.  They also predict the changes – which are due to come into force in the autumn – will be unpopular with parents and are unlikely to reduce the overall costs of childcare.  Professor Helen Penn , Professor of Early Childhood at the University of East London, co-wrote a report for the government with Professor Eva Lloyd last year which warned relaxing ratios would lead to a ‘deterioration’ in the quality of care.

HS2: High-speed rail route phase two details announced

One year ago today the details of the proposed high-speed rail network were released.  My question is why do we need to go so fast.  Is half-an-hour off the journey to Birmingham going to make a difference to anyone, especially at a likely cost of £40 billion plus?

This is written as a rondeau.

(As an aside, spooky to hear that after I’d posted my blog yesterday Pete Seeger died)

 

The Pace Of Life

In the pressured pace of life the golden age of steam is passed
but do we have to go so fast?
Do we really need the high-speed train,
the HS2, perhaps someone can explain.
No choice, I fear the die is cast.

Who can recall the whistle’s blast,
the stench-filled smoke that billowed past?
Romantic times but now we live in new terrain
in the pressured pace of life.

We’re expected to succeed, exceed, surpass
but the gap with quality of life is vast.
Public transport should surely take the strain,
but give us time to talk, share, shallow breathe again,
laugh, sing, live life in colours to its full contrast
in the pressured pace of life.

 

28^th January 2013 – headline from the BBC

Notes:  “HS2: High-speed rail route phase two details announced”.  Speeds of up to 250mph on HS2 will reduce a Birmingham to Leeds journey from two hours to 57 minutes, while phase one will cut London-Birmingham travel to 49 minutes, from the current one hour and 24 minutes.  More than 70 groups oppose HS2.  StopHS2 argues the project is “fundamentally flawed”, saying the majority of journeys will be to London so England’s North and Midlands will lose out rather than benefit, and that projections do not take into account competition from conventional rail.  StopHS2 campaign manager Joe Rukin said: “Fifty-five percent of the economic benefits are based on the cash value of time, no-one works on trains and every business user is worth £70,000 a year – it’s basically a train for the rich that everyone else is not only going to have to pay for the construction of but also have to subsidise throughout its lifetime as well.”

Egypt unrest: Death sentences over football riots spark violence

One year ago yesterday were signs in Egypt that all was not well with the Arab Spring.  The change of government hadn’t seemed to have brought about the democratic entente hoped for.  Of course, one year later and hindsight is a wonderful thing.  The apparent ‘lack’ of change I questioned in the poem has been addressed by yet another regime change with the generals back in charge in Egypt.

 

Arab Spring

Arab spring,
Mubarak out
Morsi elected in.

A football match
in Egypt’s larval hush,
an alleg-ed plot is hatched.

The exit gate is rushed,
over seventy piled dead,
their bodies lying trampled, crushed.

Football fans arrested.
Twenty-one condemned to die,
the new regime is being tested.

The people rise demanding why.
Violent, clashing riots in Port Said parts
and thirty more protestors fall and die.

Is this where the frozen Arab winter starts,
where the surging wasteland soul has lost its heart?
Mubarak out with Morsi in exchange.
Apparently no change.

 

26^th January 2013 – headline from the BBC

Notes:  “Egypt unrest: Death sentences over football riots spark violence”.  At least 30 people have died in Port Said, officials say, in clashes sparked by the sentencing to death of 21 local people over football riots in Egypt.  Ultras, the die-hard fans of al-Ahly, Egypt’s most successful club in Cairo, took to the streets of the capital to show satisfaction after 21 people were sentenced to death for their role in last February’s football violence.  Ultras played a key role in the protests that overthrew President Mubarak. Many believe that Mubarak loyalists hatched a plot to target them at al-Ahly’s away match to Port Said’s al-Masry team and criticise police for failing to act.  Thousands of people had taken to the streets on Friday to voice their opposition to the Islamist president, accusing him of betraying the revolution.  The liberal opposition accuses Mr Morsi of being autocratic and driving through a new constitution that does not protect adequately freedom of expression or religion.  (Technical note – poem constructed as a villanelle with tercets in terza rima style)

Syria conflict: UN says refugee crisis in Jordan ‘critical’

Sometimes it’s depressing looking back at headlines a year ago.  This was about the Syrian refugee crisis.  Look at Syria today.  Has anything changed?

 

 

 

Syria

Syria.
Let’s pause for thought
and hold a mirror to our souls.

Syria.  You’re there now in that war-torn country split,
where government and rebel forces fight.
Do you sit still and silent,
looking on, doing nothing, feeling nothing?
Or risk all, your family, your life
and take a stand for what you believe is right?
Who knows what’s best?
Who know’s what’s right and wrong in civil war?
Who can be sure,
when each side claims their cause is just?

Syria.  A dilemma to a world that’s tired of war,
but no good reason to be ignored.
A place where women, children, men all die so needlessly,
not for them the choice of growing old.
A place where lives, homes, families are all destroyed,
where in the heat of war the future looks so cold.
A place where angry voices surge from out the arab spring.
A place where plangent voices mourn the dead and ask
“Is anybody out there, anyone at all, listening?”
A place from which to flee in droves,
to leave the self-destruction of the civil war
seeking sanctuary on the distant shores of hope.
Be a refugee.
Perhaps the world will listen now.
Perhaps the world will pause
and hold a mirror to its soul.

 

24^th January 2013 – headline from the BBC

Notes:  “Syria conflict: UN says refugee crisis in Jordan ‘critical’”.  The UN says there has been a huge leap in the numbers of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan, putting a considerable strain on resources.  Up to 3,000 were arriving every day and at least 50,000 were waiting to cross.  Jordan has warned that if there is a mass influx of refugees it will close the border with Syria.  The BBC’s Fergal Keane at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan said many there feel abandoned by the outside world.  The Syrian conflict has been going on for some time and is rarely out of the news.  But because of that there is almost a danger of becoming complacent and ignoring it when there are other new headlines day on day.  I thought this one was particularly poignant though.