Don't be Sad, get Mad.

Don't be sad, get mad

Don't let them make you feel so sad

You can't even remember the good you've had

They want you down they like the frowns

On the faces of inhabitants of Northern towns.

Scare them with a smile

Keep laughing they'll run a mile

Crush their lies with logic

Make science and reason your object

This time we know the seeds of hate have taken root

Our disbelief won't stop the boot

That crushes human feelings

Our only hope is keep on rising up

And force them our words to hear

Gather friends and share a cup

Of tea or glass of beer

The power is within us

Together we are strong

Divided we must not be

Compassion is never wrong.

poem 2: How Cows Die

How Cows Die

Cows die in strange ways

And in numbers you wouldn't believe

Freak accidents involving trains

And diseases would make you heave

All this stuff must be written down

To keep the records straight

There's people have to read these tales

Of bovine ladies' fates

Potatoes can be lethal when lodged in Daisy's throat

Running too fast down a hill, can drown you in a moat

Sometimes a cow can fester for weeks

And trust me dead old cow can really reek.

At times a cow can be a danger

To the man who runs the farm

And so that cow is put to sleep

To save farmers from harm.

Cows can have a hard life 

To hang themselves they have been known,

Not sure how they do it

Do they tie the noose on their own?

Its the numbers that astound me

Thousands peg it each day

Why I never see dead beasts around me

When I'm out on a walk in May?

The one case in particular worried me 

The record said something odd

The cow had been "Killed by ET"

This was no act of God.

© Joanne Oliver

Poem 1 : The Allotment

The Allotment

Its taken 18 years for me to find my peace with you

The weeds the dirt the damned hard work

You seldom give me food.

Dandelions don't taste bad or nettles in a stew

But why can't I get brassicas

or carrots to come though?

Greens feel the teeth of caterpillars

Radishes get munched by slug

Carrots, even if I plant them high

get fly in the soil I dug.

Potatoes, they've had goodish years

I got a bowl not lots.

But why bother with onions

When they're cheaper down the shops?

Fruit has worked out better

Some years a glut of jam

Without that I would jack it in.

Does mole meat taste like Spam?

Yes moles I grow plenty of those

And large and  muscular snails

I think they might taste quite divine

Cooked with garlic, served with ale.

©Joanne Oliver 2015