Do You NOt KNow? Have You Not Heard?

Do you not Know? Have you not Heard?[i] Do you not know? Have you not heard? [ii] Listen dear, again they talk: Somalia, near Delhi my dear? Those blacks again – what will they do? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Why hunger, strife and disease? They must pull themselves together! All this fuss, what’s to do with us? Do you not know? Have you not heard? What’s that we sang in church? “And hunger drives our neighbours from their homes...”[iii] I like my home in Pinner. Do you not know? Have you not heard? “Power growing fat upon the starving bones.” Now my dear, what’s that about? Oh Look, dead cows at the side of the road. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The children, they are so cute. Why don’t they whisk the flies away? How fat their tummies are. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Now turn it off – it’s not to do with us This is our home, the gift of God’s creation, We deserve the life we lead... Do you not know? Have you not heard? Now change the channel, my dear HD so hurts my eyes. Big Brother now, on Channel 5. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The post, my dear? A crate of Laithwaites? We have Tristram and Tracy for supper; Some Côtes de Rousillon Villages 2003. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Our shares are down my dear? Your bonus will cover for those. Big Brother, and now a glass of Blue Nun No, I do not Know, I will not hear, then or now. 24 August 2012 Notes: Pinner is an expensive suburb of London - home of many of the 'chattering classes' Laithwaites is an upper class purveyor of fine wines (by post...) The TV programme 'Big Brother' is, well, 'Big Brother' ......... [i] The original idea for this poem came during the humanitarian crisis of 2010-11. [ii] A reference to Isaiah 40 verse 28 [iii] Taken from A Hymn for Harvest by Colin Ferguson, also in the next verse.