About three weeks ago like a fool <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I injured my back picking up a bag of soil <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next day I went to a football match <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where I stood rather still for nearly two hours <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I walked home that day as the buses were poor <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And after about a mile became aware <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That I was limping as my back was hurting a great deal <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was leaning to the left which haunted me <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And stopped when people passed by<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I like to be seen as a strong man <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were posters on the brick walls <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protesting about all things petty <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tore them down as I cared little <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For their causes full stop full stop . <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If my family had owned slaves in the past <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then so be it as it was a historical detail <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One cannot change history that is obvious <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why were people getting so upset about this<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It did not make sense <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No sense at all <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was as I limped under a railway bridge <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That I noticed some yobs attacking an effeminate guy <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a strange way this afforded me pleasure <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I encouraged them with my indifference <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I question my actions but felt no guilt <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My back was hurting and I was angry <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Really fucking angry <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet I still had the strength to remove the posters <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As they annoyed me so much <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I dislike identity politics <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I can see their roads clearly <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others cannot see this <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What cunts they are <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was nearing a main road <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I found a kitten in the gutter <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It had been caught by a car and was dazed <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And although it was difficult I picked it up <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kitten was so soft and trusting <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And before I knew it I was weeping <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All my pain both physical and mental was leaving me <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A woman who was carrying a Mondrian poster <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Came up to me and enquired of my grief<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was also crying <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told her that with love<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kitten would recover <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She invited me into her red brick house <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We shared a cup of mint tea <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She gave the kitten some milk <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which was accepted happily <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Margaret was her name <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(I was Martin) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Margaret said that her husband was in prison <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he had beaten a migrant to death <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I asked her whether his actions were justified <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said that he would do it again <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was there a reason for this violence <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was enough that the man had invaded these shores <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I admired her poster and she told me that it was her treat <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As she had killed someone herself with a stolen axe <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To carry on her husbands good work <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was I shocked <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would I do the same <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is a question that I could not answer <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said that the order was breaking down <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that violence would become more common<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They go hand in hand <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did I think ill of her <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was all black and white <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were no grey areas <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She later enquired of my painful injury <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I noted that it would go in time <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it made me angry <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could blame no one but myself <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I blamed all who offended me <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We both then prayed for the kitten <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which was asleep on a white cushion <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
About three weeks ago like a fool I injured my back picking up a bag of soil The next day I went to a football match Where I stood rather still for nearly two hours I walked home that day as the buses were poor And after about a mile became aware That I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13711"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13716,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13711\/revisions\/13716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}