Poem: For Sanity Press Pause

For Sanity Press Pause

How do we live in a world gone mad

where it’s bad to be good and good to be bad

dumb to be smart and smart to be dumb

we work for a crust but get just a crumb

As the powerful strut all cock-a-hoop

trumpeting loudly their next big scoop

the lackeys are busy covering their tracks

slinking through cracks with alternative facts

And so we live siloed, scourged by BotCon

connected yet separate, autonomy gone

but advice is forthcoming wherever you turn

life can be brilliant, you just have to learn

Switch off / switch on

work less / work more

go fast / slow / yes / no

round and round and round we go

nobody knows

anything goes

Press pause…

There’s no blustering in a billabong

or vanity in a vine

smugness in birdsong

pomposity in a pine

The eyes of a child teach us wisdom

and butterflies know how to be

there’s truth in the view from a mountain

in the pulse and surge of the sea

bring sanity back

bring sanity back

bring sanity back to me.

Living in Adelaide, Kathryn von Bergen holds a Bachelor of Arts, Graduate Diplomas in Teaching, Social Science and Health Counselling, and the RSA/Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults. She has taught Humanities, English, and English as an Additional Language, to secondary and adult students in South Australia, China and Zimbabwe, lectured at Uni SA, Thebarton Senior College, and worked in Kumon Education as a franchisee and Adelaide Area Manager. A finalist in the National Training Awards in 2018 for her work with young adult refugee students, she is also the holder of a national award for excellence in Kumon Education. She is a volunteer with The Gums Landcare Group, a member of Sing Australia, and reads her poetry at various Adelaide venues.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.