MY PIN-HOLE CAMERA

By Tikum Mbah Azonga

I own a pin-hole camera
I brought it back from the war
I mean the war in Iraq
Someone else' war that I fought
And brought back to my kids
A monocled eye, a sightless guide dog
A bible in shreds
And of course
The pin-hole camera
I won as a consolation prize.


I have written to the White House and the Pentagon
And Number Ten Downing Street
Because they were the architects of ths pointless war
Which has neither been won nor is over
The people out there need Michael Faraday
Because today's scientists have failed them
They need food, wine, films, radio sets, toys
Games, women, children, their homes, their dreams, their lives
But as it were, they're hemmed in, trapped
And the down and out like us are out here
Free - or are we
Armed with a worthless world possession
A pin-hole camera.

Copyright 2010