Poetry Thursday 15 - Messages

 Continuing the theme of messages I have written three poems this week, all with target recipients. 

The inspiration for Oyster came from a paragraph in Dickens's first novel - Pickwick Papers. Sam Weller, Pickwick's servant, comments on the number of oyster stalls on the poorer streets of London. 

'poverty and oysters seem to go hand in hand'

For E Musk on the failed launch of his rocket.

For Musk

 

If I become a wealthy man,

It wouldn’t be my only plan,

To share it with my network,

By launching the biggest firework.

© David L Atkinson November 2023 

Then there is the new cabinet but the message is for the voting public.

For the Cabinet

 

Sunak, Hunt and Braverman,

Cleverly, Gove and Cameron,

and other members of that ilk,

who’ll never know the price of milk,

future voters be aware

the bottom line – they just don’t care.

© David L Atkinson November 2023 

Finally, for everyone to reflect on the issue of wealth versus poverty. 

Oysters

 

It is often wondered who was first

to consume the quivering shellfish,

which brave consumer had a thirst,

to ingest that unappetising dish.

 

Perhaps it was a kind of knavish trick,

played by the poor on the rich,

to make the wealthy very sick,

promising the scratching of the sexual itch.

 

In fact the said slimy, grey mollusc,

has no such enhancing ability,

is not even vaguely picturesque,

has only a gag-inducing quality.

So only two centuries later,

the poor have foregone that dubious pleasure,

replaced it with the humble tater,

and the oyster is now an expensive treasure.

 

Perhaps the rich are the butt of the joke,

maybe the unappealing oyster knows,

as well as the ordinary everyday bloke,

that it is as the emperor’s suit of clothes!

© David L Atkinson November 2023 

God Bless