Prophetic the voice
of thunder… to attention
the umbrella snaps
By David Edwards
Seeking the future
Unprepared for what will be
Ignorance is bliss
By Aeronwy Dafies
Do They Really Want To Know
By K. A. Williams
In just a few days
I would meet a handsome man
We would fall in love
But soon he would cheat on me
In a rage, I would stab him
Sibyl’s Tongue
By Harris Coverley
Searching through the dark veil to see
The smoke of empires burning bright
Reading stars in the purple night
The doom awaits—a prophecy!
The crumbling of the cities be
The deadening of earth and air
Eternal is Mankind’s nadir
Our doom awaits in prophecy
Death is King—or so he decrees
Those stars once read are blinking out
The signs were true—there is no doubt
This doom is sure in prophecy
Thirsty Earth
By Clive Donovan
One dismal day I will sink into
This thirsty earth which will dismantle
These accumulated atoms
Of my body. Or
A family of flames will gather,
Breeding on my fat;
Abandoning my cindered relics
To the deeping dust. Or
A sucking wave will take me off
Some tongue of a beach
Where no kind friends are
And as each, in struggle, takes the other,
Each, wave and I, shall die.
This dire planet, this speck of a place,
Richly buried with seed;
This apple, serenely floating in space;
God’s little mote and cruel ball of life
We call Earth and think there must surely be more of
But whose secret shocking name is Planet Love;
A world cast-away, just one devised and lonely made…
This thirsty Earth will one day drink of Time itself
And all the clocks, and tentative yearnings
And longings of all those who wish so dear
To be melted to coalescence
Of earthly flesh, with bellies en-fired
And in strong holy waters steeped, refreshed,
Shall cease, unwind and will end and stop.
DCCXCI
By David Edwards
Prophesy only
certain things: sunrise
and sunset, and shadows that
rise near objects in their wake,
and the horizon’s
sure infinity.
Some Quatrains of Nostradmus
(with commentary)
Translated by Cardinal Cox
Baa, baa, black sheep
Hast thou any wool
Aye sir, aye sir
Three bags full
This clearly represents William Gladstone and the Home Rule Bill (commentary 1886).
This clearly represents Bill Gladhome and Stone Rule Willy (commentary 1968)
Jack and Jill ascend the hill
To fetch a flask of water
Jack slipped down and bust his crown
And Jill came rolling after
This clearly represents recent American politics from the assassination of the John F. Kennedy to the Watergate scandal (commentary 1972)
Little Bo Peep misplaced her sheep
And can’t work out where to find them
Leave them alone and they’ll walk home
Dragging their tails behind them
This clearly relates to the Crimean War (commentary 1873)
This clearly relates to the Vietnam War (commentary 1973)
Incy-Wincy spider
Crawled up the water spout
Then came the rain
And washed poor Incy out
This clearly relates to Napoleon (commentary 1825)
This clearly relates to Putin (commentary 2025)
Hanging from the lamp-posts
All the Government men
Dancing in the ruins
We will start again
This clearly relates to the fall of Prime Minister Johnson (commentary 2050)
This clearly relates to the fall of President Xandu (commentary 2150)
As Though The Seer
By Clive Donovan
It was as though my eyeballs slipped
And swivelled right around to sights
Where normal eyes were out of bounds:
My left eyelid floated up serene
To a vision of women, seated;
Engaged in creaming up stuffs in oil
And possets in bowls, murmuring to cats,
Sewing bits of ribbons to hats,
Wondering where their silver spoons
Had drifted off to and the crew
Who used to toil and croon
And fix things for them
And cosset them.
My right eye groaned open
To a male display standing
About on the draughty threshold;
Some rough covenant or plan
Being hatched, eyes darting,
Looking for some source or sense of discipline
Or inspiration to catch.
My third eye had meanwhile
Crept its way to my occipital zone
Where it stole open and witnessed
Both sexes recklessly embracing
In the ointment of their
Amorous intent;
The wax of their embalmment melting;
Hospitalization over;
Segregated armies meeting;
– Not quite yet in peace – but meeting.
By now I’d seen enough, they said.
The hood came back down and to the spring
Below my tree they had me led,
Singing.
Many prophecies
Still life goes on unchanging.
But then the world ends
Sudden meteor impact.
Well, someone had to be right!
By DJ Tyrer
View From Atlantis 