HUMAN GEOLOGY

Two weekends ago I appeared at 2000 Trees with Emily McCoy and Gram Davies. This was the fifth year running we were asked to read. We are billed as Juncture 25 and nostalgia prevents us from changing our name. You may know that Juncture 25 was a group of poets that collaborated from 2011 to 2015.
Observing the festival goers at Trees has led to this poem.

the band crank it out, urgent, loud,

such a brief time to make their mark

below them hands in the air,

almost a single mass of flesh caught up in the moment

others further away drink, talk, laugh,vape

the festival the backdrop to their private dramas

everywhere, unnoticed in viz-vests, people, paid by the hour,

stoop to collect cans into plastic bags and clear away the debris

I realise that it is a percentage of, and not all people who just drop their rubbish on the floor, but how did we arrive at this state?
Is it the focus on the individual and not the group collectively that has characterised politics since the early 1980's? Have we become more selfish? Do we not think beyond ourselves to the group good? 
I think we need to change, we cannot go on like this. People deserve better.
I can see the difficulties but have no answers. 
On a lighter note.

Your twenty five year old wedding vows are renewed

then we are out of the church

and into the warm evening

alive with neon to eclipse the sun

but we don’t notice

ensnared as we are by the fairground rides

comfortable promises of adventure, speed and danger

and there you are

a bride in a dodgem car

This poem describes the evening my brother and sister-in-law renewed their vows and then went on the funfair rides. A lovely evening.
I leave you with Anna Ternheim.

Here's a full concert, excellent stuff.

Until next time.