Day 9 - Snow thoughts

The ice on the pond melted early that year so they didn't quite manage to skate.
And though Spring came eagerly bounding along like a puppy let out of the gate,
it didn't feel right that Winter was gone when it already had arrived late.
The white arctic hares woke from short hibernation, but seemed reluctant to mate.
The reindeer weighed down by their late term gestation as if they were going to inflate.
And bearberries started to show through the snow, unheard of in this northern state.

The look in his eyes was of studied concern as he whittled the log in his hand.
His mind kept returning to how the world changed, while his hands kept on carving the stand.
The world that he knew when his father was young, was becoming a different land.
And he worried at what all that change would entail, for he didn't think it would be grand.
And how all the folk would to keep on with their lives, had not, to his knowledge, been planned.
In this strangest of times, when the winter was short, and the spring had been stretched like a band.

He stood up from his work as he need a break, 'cos his mind had not been on the wood.

But even distracted the block he had held had begun to take shape as it should.
As a bird that was perched on a short stump of tree, peering out as if under a hood.
If he thought there were ways to set right how things were, he'd do all that he possibly could.
Yet he knew that small changes when placed close together, had the power to make the most good. 
So he didn't despair looking out at the snow, in the same space his father once stood.

Day 8 - Here

Here now. 

In the sun.
Leaves dapple the light.

A florist turns up the radio and dances round her empty shop. Sound waves interweave through flowers clothing red tulips and yellow peonies in chords and harmonies.

A dog laps at water in a bowl.

Children roll themselves down a grassy hill, while others clamour into a sweetshop to stock up on cola bottles.

A man on a bike huffs his way up a hill, the sweat coming through his expensive suit. His mind on the choc ice he will have when he gets home.

A tube driver parks an empty train onto the siding, contemplating the day's work they have just completed.   

An old lady in black widow's threads drinks a glass of wine with cheese and olives at a table in her garden.

Here there is laughter. Here sorrow or joy. 
Here is where we are. Here in the pause between the notes, we find the fabric of life.

Day 7 - Love Interrupted

From the crashing turbulent sea she emerged fully formed. It was only from that that moment that the world knew beauty. Her words, though few, were like earthquakes, causing cataclysms or triumphs to befall humanity. Her power was the passion that drove all people to constant endeavour. Her mere presence could start or end wars.

Like most deities, she found lockdown difficult. She soon grew bored of zoom calls. All her friends had their own hobbies to keep them going and that was all they ever talked about: The Fates had their knitting, Demeter her gardening, Artemis her running and archery, Athena her books, Hephaestus had started making and selling jewellery online, while Ares just played World of Warcraft all day. And Apollo, well he seemed to be working all hours these days.

But she needed people. She was only happy in a crowd. And so she counted down the days when she could roam free once more, compelling the world to love again.

Day 6 - Moving on up

The street was built on ancient woodland. They kept some of the trees to lend character,  but neat lawns replaced rotted oaks collapsed on forest floor.

The first five families had moved in. He went to see how they were getting on. Cars were in drives but no one answered. 

He walked round to one of the gardens. A pair of foxes had got into the kitchen. The door was unlocked so he went inside. He was about to shoo them out, but they stared at him with curious eyes. He paused, felt unsettled, and left. 

In other kitchens more foxes. Not disrupting anything, just sitting on chairs or tables, all making him feel rather uneasy. He would come back again another day. 

He drove back through the high street. There were no people. Perhaps there was a local Covid outbreak and people had been told to stay indoors. There were a lot of foxes though. 

Back home he called for his wife and three kids. No answer. In the kitchen he found 4 foxes. He leapt up on the kitchen table using his tail for balance and nuzzled his snout against the largest one.     

Day 5 - Message to those denying safety

I really hope, 
if you, your children, or any of your descendants, 
ever need to flee the country, 
to seek refuge elsewhere,
that you are treated better,
than you think asylum seekers coming here should be treated. 

That if you are left with no choice to break rules to save your family's lives,
that you would still be accorded all the rights of the Geneva Convention.
That you wouldn't have to survive a perilous journey to get there.
That when you arrived, the media wouldn't blame all that place's problems on you. 
That you wouldn't be met with hostility from the locals. 
I hope you will be treated as a human, even though you do not think we should do the same for others now.

 
Because human rights are not bequeathed, are not deserved, they are just there for all humans. Or they are there for none.

Day 4 - The Wings of a Dove

All eyes turned to them. 

This was their time to shine. 
They took one last look at the crowd a little way off, took a step back, and ran headlong towards the cliff, faster and faster until, at the last second, they unfurled their wings and leapt. 
The wind caught them and swept them out into the centre of the chasm, where for a moment they looked as if they would gain altitude. But then they turned slightly to the side and began their turn. 
Gliding down in descended circles, they traced the path of a helix until they lightly touched down on the canyon floor some 200m below, refurling their wings as they touched the ground. 
It looked effortless, as if anyone could do it, and that was what they wanted to convey. 
Spread out, each wing was the length of their body, jointed in three places but controlled by the arm that fitted inside it. The stretched fabric mirroring the effect of a thousand feathers. 

The generals turned to the inventor, and started firing questions, but she was waiting for a certain one. 
"But can they go up?" Once it was answered there was silence, she could feel the weight of expectation in the air.
"No", she replied, "they can only drift down"
She knew the effect her answer would have. There were more questions, but that was the important one, and without it they wouldn't endorse her project for the armed forces.
The generals and their entourage drove off into the desert. They were polite but she knew the answer would be no. 
The wings would become a leisure item for hobbyists and enthusiasts. They would still be huge, but now they would not be used for defence. 

She waited until the dust from their vehicles disappeared over the horizon, and then waved to her two assistants on the desert canyon far below.

She watched as they took off from their standing position, flapping their wings, rising higher and higher until they had ascended the canyon wall and landed safely beside her on the cliff's edge.  

Day 3 -The Tree Readers

Sylvametry Incorporate were new upon the scene.
They claimed they could interpret all the dreams that trees did dream.
The other players were concerned. They thought, what did this mean?
The market share that they had earned was threatened by this scheme.

Now Arboreal Technologies had long controlled the field,
of knowing what a forest felt, and hence predicting yield. 
They started off with simple ways to make those moods revealed, 
like temperature, humidity, and if its bark was pealed.

But as the years rolled by they learnt of newer ways to know,
like funginterferometry, and water process flow.  
And whether when its leaves were placed in alum did they glow. 
So all the data that they learnt, was placed in charts on show.

Thus many tree researching firms had quickly been established.
Like Dendro Market Research, who could "tell us what the trees wished".
They placed electrodes on the trunk connected to a checklist.
One click for yes and two for no, and all of this they published. 

But until now, no one had thought to delve into their mind.
To seek those inner hopes and fears. Who knows what they would find?
All eyes were on Sylvametry, the date was underlined.
The press were going crazy. This would alter humankind.

An ancient misty woodland had been picked to set the tone. 
And every tree had coils of wire, and A.I. of its own.
So when the system booted up, an answer clearly shown. 
And this is what the message said. Leave us the fuck alone.

Day Two - Ode to microbes past.

Green, orange, red the mat grew  
until it covered the continents.
Feeding off the many layers of itself.
Giving of gases poisonous to us.
But back then, 4 billion years ago, 

these were the building blocks that would become the life we know today. 
Our long forgotten great ancestor 
the mat microbial 
crafting the forerunner of the cells 
that would make all higher forms of life. 
It shines and shimmers in the sun, 

taking in the energy, 

storing it. 

The planet is made a living thing.
And visible as such to anyone observing the spectra given off.
A methane world.

You stewarded this land for two billion  laps of the sun,
before your children killed you off, 
by spewing oxygen into the air.
Preparing it for newer life, but spelling your doom.
I don't know if you ever got the thanks you deserve for kick starting life on Earth.
But hear this as a whisper of a gratitude. 

Day One - ApoloGee

Earth, my home

I want what's best

I've treated you so bad

Took your forests for granted

Misused your oceans

Let your glaciers vanish.

In short I've been a right bastard.

I don’t blame you for not trusting me

When I say

I will make everything right again

By reducing my bastardity by 15% over the next 20 years.

Athos Athanasiou 

Before the vote

It is our vote you're taking when you talk about Brexit.
A vote we will lose if we head for the exit.
Our say in what happens across from our waters.
A way to instruct the EU in our matters.

Our country has been through a lot these last days.
A voice has been silenced through hate and through violence.
A good voice that said act together in kindness.
But whose message lives on and is carried by others.

Another returns from the great depths of space.
A result of the coming together of nations.
For none on their own could have built a space station.
And we're in for the ride, due to collaboration.

What happens abroad we feel it all too.
We are more than an island, we live on Earth too.
Orlando or Syria we stand side by side.
When atrocities happen, we feel it inside.

And what does it mean, what has it all taught us?
What world will we leave to our sons and our daughters?
Should countries be distant and look only inward,
or meet round a table to move our world forward

For the way the campaigns have been run is a shock.
The leaders on both sides use fear as their stock.
'In' ought to have listened to the prospectless youth;
out of work and low waged, see no point in the booth.

'Out' stirs up the hatred and stirs up the anger
and blames all our problems on migrants and others.
But it was these politicians raised University fees,
cut public sector funds and bought the NHS to its knees.

It's migrants that've kept afloat National Health.
Who've worked hard for this country to generate wealth.
Our sports men and women who've done us all proud.
Who now hear the language of fear spoke out loud.

For the EU it sets out more rights for our workers.
It keeps cleans our beaches and rivers and waters.
It works for our safety and holidays and health.
And to impoverished cities redistributes wealth.*

And what we put in, we get back tenfold.
It opens up markets where our products get sold.
And this will keep helping small businesses grow,
attracting more foreign investment you know.

And yes it's not perfect and we may disagree.
But there're  ways we can change it, choose a new M.E.P.
For if we bow out no more say shall we have.
And we'll still have to follow their lead hand in glove.

So vote with your head and vote with your heart.
To me they both said the same thing from the start.
If you want to live in a world that's together,
then vote to stay in, whatever the weather.






Athos Athanasiou, 18th  June 2016






* E.g. Manchester and the Greater Manchester European Funding Program.