News has been rather unsurprising for a while now. As I was going through some old work, I found a poem I wrote back in 2012 when I was doing my A Poem Each Day project. It was inspired by a piece of street art along a train track in Düsseldorf, Germany. Watch the video to see it. I reread my poem and found it rather unsurprising that it would still work eight years later. Mostly. I rewrote it into a 2020 version, mainly because I wanted to change the last stanza. This is the 2020 version I read in the video above:
No Surprising News 2020
Journalist killed at demonstration.
Opposition alleges fraud after elections.
Bystanders killed in terrorist attack.
No surprising news today.Politicians blame other politicians for
blocking a solution they don’t want.
Others fire up their guns
in the run-up to new elections.
Not really surprising news.Disasters, wars,
and all you hear about is
"alternative truths",
that, too, is
unsurprising news.A cure for cancer,
black lives matter,
climate change reversed.
Peace in the Middle East.
Surprising news?
In my dreams.
If you want to compare, please read the 2012 version, too.
I hope you enjoy this poem. It’s the 11th Poetry Piątek, your weekly dose of poetry on Friday. Feel free to share with your friends, or buy me a coffee to inspire more poems.