Sometimes feels like
everyone’s saying it’s
Nazi Germany
But in fact we’re in
the Weimar Republic
with the internet
and superfast broadband
and actually no wars
in living memory … almost
nearby.
And I read about
the wartime occupation of France
on holiday in France
And my brain only
forms German words
and I live in that neutral land
between the two countries
and it hasn’t even been 100 years.
And I wonder what it all means
Are we
cursed to live in interesting times?
or are they so dull
we’ve overlaid reality
with Pokémon cartoons
and Trump and Brexit and terrorism and guns and refugees are just…
flotsam of news
jetsam of state control
And politics.
This sordid mess
still looks beautiful
from Lake Geneva
And I just don’t know
what to make of it all
clairevetica 
There is nothing to make out of it. Beauty, joy, sadness, horror are all present at the same time. We can always enjoy something while the world falls apart. We can always feel the pain of others and act on it. We are free and complete.
I may be a bit of that monkey that covers their eyes (for a lack of better expression) so I say enjoy the little things that make you happy.
Even though it is important to learn from the past and not to repeat mistakes, it is also important to let go of the past and use our time and energy to make the present and the future bright.
I have a feeling every generation has these dark things that seem to shake the world and we all grow and change. Thanks for sharing your poetry.
Funny, isn’t it, to notice when German words just tend to appear of their own volition… I’d love to read a bit of a Denglish poem from you.
I go in waves, being very informed and hiding my head in the sand. Which is much easier in a country where you don’t understand the local news.
This poem sums things up quite succinctly.