Mustn’t Grumble
We mustn’t grumble
We have wireless and cable
And there’s food in the shops.
Beyoncé had a birthday and the game is on tonight.
We have work to do.
And all the really bad things like weather and politics
are a long way away so we don’t have to worry.
And there’s always pizza delivery.
We can still walk in the park
And smell roses.
It’s too bad about the neighbors,
But we won’t miss the smell of garlic
and the dog never liked the kid on the bicycle anyway.
So sad about the homeless
It’s good we feel safe these days.
The bus only comes once a day now.
There had to be cuts, sacrifices.
It’s all good though because we don’t even need
Meals on wheels. Yet. And
We can go to the library on Wednesday after 2pm
There’s a yoga class at six
And a book group at seven.
We will take vitamins and stay healthy
Go meatless on Monday and help the planet.
So many stores to rent
Where did they go?
And they are putting luxury houses where the mall used to be.
So that’s good.
We still have police cars with sirens
and cops on motorbikes so that is ok.
Mustn’t grumble.
There’s no new war this week
We live in a nice neighborhood
and we can still speak the truth
if we keep the door shut.
Alexa, put the flag out,
shut the door,
turn off the light.
Mustn’t grumble.
Let’s have tea and be safe
It’s best to speak in whispers.
Peter Howson (b.1958) 1993-1994
Gilbert and George. 1972. Gordon’s Makes Us Very Very Drunk
Isabel Codrington (1874–1943 1925
Anthony Green (b.1939) 1981
We are just SO lucky!
“We mustn’t grumble
We have wireless and cable
And there’s food in the shops.
Beyoncé had a birthday and the game is on tonight.
We have work to do.”
Thank-you. This is so good!
Thanks for the kind words, Brian.
This is perfect. How our lives, and the quality of our lives, are gradually discounted and – ever so slightly, day-by-day- eroded and erased. By necessity, of course. For the good of the nation. And etc.
Thank you for this.
I’m the neighbor that create the garlic smell . . . . YUM! That and we live close enough to Gilroy that we get a whiff of it every so often!
Always good to live close to a major food source. For a while lived in whiffing distance of a bacon factory when the wind was from the north. Not so good.
Grumble it out…look at the grumble….and then get it into perspective.
Ummmh! If I accept what our parliament and the Remainers are trying to do then I must do something worse than the grumbling that I’ve been doing for the last couple of years!
And in the bigger picture, with all the problems the world is experiencing just now, there is a growing prospect of everyone having NO food in the fridge or in the supermarkets!
Too many people? Too many choices?
Between Doris and Bonald things are in a parlous state that is for sure.
Very telling selection of artworks to underline your point!
Thanks as always for you encouragement!
That’s sounds more than unpleasant. You really do have something to grumble about. Enough with all the damn gratitude that things are not worse! Cheers!
Thank you, I enjoyed that! It reset my mind. Here in Queensland we are not in the grip of famine or warfare but about 70 wild bushfires ravaging thousands of hectares, homes, livestock, historical townships. The smoke from the Gold Coast hinterland blaze (approx 80km away) is traveling across Brisbane suburbs and keeping me indoors. But I am safe, mustn’t grumble.