by Ellaraine Lockie, California

by Geoff Stevens

One rebel cell that won't
conform to the norm
The surgeon says pre-cancerous
is a polite term for predestined death
His diagnosis synonymous with demand
for the cutting side of conservative
So he sharpens his blades
to butcher half her left breast
She with equally whetted words
and weightier sarcasm
suggests slicing away the rest of the breast
And why not the other as well
Obliterate all that worry
To which the surgeon wishes
all women would be so wise
But not as sharp-witted as this one
who walks away from the malignancy
of medical madness
Into the rationality of research
One rebel woman who won't
conform to the norm

today is holocaust day

why no japanese torture day

why no black hole of calcutta day

why no tutsi massacre day

why no pol pot day

why no moors murderer day

why no serbia bombings day

why no i.r.a. assassination's day

why two minutes silence

why no two minutes in which to speak?

I'M NOT REALLY MAD
by Gordon Scapens, Preston, England.

I will rule the world
with power surpassed by none.
I've stockpiled machines
that make zero equal one.

Everyone knows the threat
of this momentous deduction,)
yes I'll rule the world
with weapons of maths destruction.

by Steve Owen, Warwick, England

WANDERERS

by Richard Titman, Stamford, England

Filthy moneymind pervert plastic surgeons
spurn all natural beauty
giving Essex hags
tit-expansions and belly-tucks.

Oops, at 80, my face will fall off
says Sharon, Basildon Woman
who voted thatcherite in the 80's
to grab shares in the Water Board
and now there's flooding
since drains aren't cleared
and home insurance premiums are up
becos' it's an act of God
that i voted tory
and the storm drains aren't cleared.

and i'm Basildon Woman
i shop for the credit card companies
to boost their interest income
and i'm Basildon Woman
and i want a new sofa every year
and i'll send my daughters
to a church school
if i can pretend i believe enough
if i go to church every sunday
for three months and take
Holy Communion and smile at the Vicar
even tho' i've never been confirmed.

The family Swartz has emigrated
from their London home
an old established household
from Dulwich, in the South.
They left for reasons pure and simple,
an aversion to the waves
of newly settled immigrants.
But now they've been outraged
by their new compatriots
who've burnt down
their expensive villa in the sun
they being local nationalists.

HOUSES OF CORRECTION

by Geoff Stevens

I remember my Dad
with that deliberate but spiky writing
a result of the beating he got
for being left-handed

And now it's mental bashings
for the right-wingers
and I'm going to end up
writing spiky too