| Will sharp-suited men still shake hands on their private deals Will we hesitate to kiss another’s cheeks or even in suppressed lust their lips Will the air we breathe stay cleaner or will sordid fires be stoked again Will rich pickings and the poor continue to be concealed Will statistics have to be doctored Will we have to choose between welfare and warfare Will we simply rebuild or will a tower of untruth rise unopposed to the heavens Will empathy be trumped by meanness Will we have to weather new storms Will the rivers darken again Will the world be immune to hunger Will charlatans cure us of hope? |
| Edward Mackinnon has worked as a translator in the Netherlands and France. He has had four poetry collections published by Shoestring Press (Nottingham, UK), the latest of which is ‘The Storm Called Progress” (2018). |