Trying, But Failing, To To Forget About International Politics While Out On A Walk

Acrylic on canvas, 30cm x 40cm

Walking past the wild hedgerows
I try so hard to live in the moment.
but I am in a
small cocoon
of my
humming mind archives.

I stare hard – too hard –
at the vibrant colours,
trying to be ‘at one’ with nature
(whatever that means).

The need to escape from it all is strong.
There’s too much going on. I feel powerless.
But everything is connected.
Even in the West of Ireland
I can no longer escape the 24 hr
news cycle. That overturned road sign
is the middle east peace process. The
polluted well is the dying ocean.
The fishing boat out in
Galway Bay is our need to
over-farm the planet.
That warm, humid, birdsong morning
is the burning threat of climate change.
The abundant orange flower is
the grasping proto-fascist President.

Yet I want the best for everyone.
Maybe even Trump. He’s
so far out of his depth. Perhaps after
a decade of jail then rehab he
could live his final years as a small town
adult education college acting teacher,
his skin merging with
the peeling 1970s wallpaper.