Before his crown is placed upon his head
His minions wasted no time at all
Mugs with his image wreathed in kingdom flags
Are handed out to all new kids at school,
Get them whilst they’re young, print subservience
Upon innocent tabula rasa.
Teach them how important it is to bow,
To curtsey, to scrape, to accept blue blood.
Never to question stolen enclosed land,
Become automata, die in their name,
Maintain royal privilege, play their game,
Swallow old customs hook, line, and sinker,
Don’t educate, stifle free thinkers,
Stir god into mix, insanely arcane.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom 30th April 2023.

I heard the Viking of Sixth Avenue
On Radio Three this very morning
Still remember him from the seventies,
Rock machine turned me on to his rhythms,
Now it has become twice upon a time,
Machines are lions, men are become mice,
His vision of opposite arisen,
Singular society engulfs us,
A.I. underpins almost everything.
True seers appear largely unrecognised,
Playlist culture dictates consumption
And carves brains into model citizens.
Lamentations flow at lack of value
Given to improvisational thoughts.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom 28th April 2023

What diverse amusement it would be if
Erik and Ludwig took tea in Montmartre.
I can see them both sat in Le Chat Noir,
Profiteroles, absinthe and Darjeeling,
Whilst they scrawl each others name on ceiling.
Dual divertissement on pianos grand,
Like maniacs they trade chords with four hands.
If they met there today what sounds they’d make,
As they try to comprehend lunacy
Of modern human preposterousness,
Chaotic vandalism, ecocide,
Theft, murder and total nihilist neglect.

Harry Rogers in the Green Room, 26th April 2023.

Pompeii like eruptions skew politics,
Democracy buried neath D U dust.
That’s Ukrainian uranium dust,
Russian depleted uranium dust,
British depleted uranium dust,
Yankee depleted uranium dust,
Depleted Uranium bullet dust
Swirls around battlefields throughout Ukraine,
Brings on Iraqi war syndrome again,
Hidden cancer killers blow on strong winds.
This scandalous hidden nuclear war
Roars on but none of us know anymore
How long is half life? And who’s keeping score?
It makes one wonder, what is all this for?

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom 26th April 2023

Don’t chase dragons in the middle of the night,
Not unless you want another fucking fight.
Don’t do to me what you did to Angel John,
Everybody knew that that was fucking wrong.

You can’t bring me down
Won’t go down with you,
Been there once before
Won’t go there again.

I’ve seen how you wheedle, all your hooky ways,
You lure good people into desperate days.
Such self destruction, it’s really nothing new,
Can’t help you anymore, it’s all up to you.

You can’t bring me down
Won’t go down with you,
Been there once before
Won’t go there again.

I’ll not chase those dragons with you late at night,
Nor watch as you crave that old opium pipe,
That chemical kid you once knew is long gone,
Take real world pleasures now, sing different songs.

You can’t bring me down
Won’t go down with you,
Been there once before
Won’t go there again.
Those dream fueled dragons
All go up in smoke,
Won’t go there again,
You can’t bring me down.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom, 24th April 2023.

Briefly, thick fog parts like bedroom curtains,
Revelations sparkle for a moment,
So brightly that eyes are almost blinded.
Corruption stands starkly, proudly, erect.
Smeared with cadaverine, stench overwhelms.
This Brexit messenger lies, nonchalant,
As he infers fake Civil Service plot.
An arrogant bully gaslights us all, Sneers about snowflakery activists,
Yet one more sociopathic Tory,
Denigrates Trade Union membership,
Writes pamphlets against E U human rights,
Denies all charges, resigns anyway.
Westminster fog swallows him up again.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom, 23rd April 2023

Tellurians arise
Let’s tear down every flag
Smash up those armaments,
Let’s all work together,
Survival be our cause,
Till Tellus, grow for all,
Only have one marble
In whole of universe.
Don’t waste time on crap wars,
Nor ventures into space,
Build no more monuments,
Pension off kings and queens,
Remove all useless work.
Reset what time is for,
We only have this place,
Love this beautiful place,
Our Tellurian place.
Tellurians Arise,
Rise up Tellurians,
Before it is too late!

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom, 22nd April 2023.

Down there in Donald Town
They only like the same
Better keep your head down
If you won’t play their game
If you chose the other
When you’re in Donald town
You’d better hide away
Better keep your head down

Cos you’re
Just this side of an ambush
That’s how crazy they are,
Just this side of an ambush
Until they know who you are

They say they’re gonna make
Your country great again
Take you back to their past
Into their perfect dream
Do it all with their guns
In crazy Donald’s town
Fear conquers all for them
Better keep your head down

Cos you’re
Just this side of an ambush
That’s how crazy they are,
Just this side of an ambush
Until they know who you are
Just this side of an ambush
In crazy Donald’s town.

Harry Rogers on board Irish Ferry Blue Star 1, 19th April 2023.

At last, bad weather breaks.

Sun sets over Sherkin.

At end of perfect day,

Cradle ice cold Guinness

Sat outside Jacob’s Bar.

Talk of past Fiddle Fairs,

And many yet to come,

How many folk land here

By accidental means,

Then never leave again.

It’s one of those places

Engraved upon my heart

I love you Baltimore,

I think I always will.

Harry Rogers in The Stone House, Baltimore, 19th April 2023.

Gorse is shiny golden
On second sunny day.
Drive out of Baltimore
Past Canon Goodman’s grave,
On way to Mizen Head
To write away my day.
Wind blows strong up on point
Have to drive down again,
Through Barley Cove to harbour
Next to O’Sullivan’s,
Crookhaven fish chowder,
A pint of Murphy’s stout,
Seagulls swoop, clouds gather,,
I’m almost beautied out.

Harry Rogers, Crookhaven, 18th April 2023.

Teargas billows on Paris boulevards,
Whilst Wes Streeting shoots nurses down in flames,
This dough boy politician thinks he’s hard,
In his delusional leadership games.
His traitorous faux show, all wind and piss,
Where he kicks strikers in struggle and strife,
Reminds us how Kinnock stiffed the miners,
In studios with state journos from hell.
How often do we forget sacrifice,
Working lives pushed beyond call of duty.
This little speck of anti social shite
Leaves me raging cold whilst my anger fumes.
His rotten extreme centrist rhetoric
Shows us that he’s another Quisling prick.

Harry Rogers in the Stone House, Baltimore, West Cork 17thApril 2023

Tiger Cubs gather by Spreadeagle Yard,
Bo’s Albany posters peal off wood gates,
Space Invaders machine not where it’s at,
A ride to Blackheath is so much more fun.
Their pals in Rose and Crown press more buttons,
These young wild ones want more than fake shoot em up.
Ride up Crooms Hill past top of Greenwich Park,
Roar to Three Tuns where those Squeeze fans hang out,
Then down to Deptford to watch Red Lights play.
More than forty years since these young guys rode.
No smart phones then, nor either internet,
But they had freedom on South London roads.
I pass with camera, ask them to pose,
They looked majestic, yet neither one knows.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom 11th April 2023

In this lottery called life
Beneath shiny midnight sun
We always meet new people
And, mostly, they will be fun.
Northern lights glow far away,
Whilst we wait for moon to rise,
Sleep comes all too easily,
Now we can drift on, away.

Dreamers dream away,
Dreamers dream away,
Wait and dreams will start,
Dreamers dream away.

Gates to Xanadu ajar,
Back on green jade couch again,
Each time eyes close mind’s open,
Wingless fly at will afar.
Here, where problems are resolved,
Rise high, travel further on,
Loudly sing our freedom song,
Forget pains of being old.

Dreamers dream away,
Dreamers dream away,
Wait and dreams will start,
Dreamers dream away.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom, 9th April 2023.

Numbers matter greatly when chips are down.
Four five indicted on thirty four counts,
Three lawyers proclaim felonious junk,
Trump pulls ten million to campaign funds.
Two police stand behind defendants dock,
Two hours total to spell out arraignment
Eleven SUVs in motorcade
Nine months to start court hearing in New York.
Thousands line streets on Florida return,
They treat one man as if he is their god,
He waves five fingers from his limousine,
Millions still conned by his shite charade,
Zero truths tumble from betwixt his lips,
Countless more charges await sinking ship.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom 9th April 2023

Let loose personalised attack shite hounds,
Begin electoral campaign early,
Use same tactics employed against Corbyn,
Make Sunak clear target, cut Tories head.
Gloves are off, use bare hands to spread shit thick,
Shovel relentlessly, then more will stick.
Truth immaterial, truth does not count,
Justified ends dictated by amount.
New Labour dung beetles beaver away,
Roll out balls of bullshit, day after day.
One thing they never seem to understand,
When e’er they point a shit covered finger,
At individuals on highest shelf,
Then three sticky ones point back at themselves.

Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom 8th April 2023

Incitement is addictive, so it seems.
Blonde haired vulture in a dark overcoat
Warns there will be blood and death on the streets
If he’s convicted. High power blackmail.
Will his stock of feline lives run out now?
His corporate jet glides into New York,
Sychophants, proud boys, armed trolls, maga wonks
Camp outside courts, await signal to act.
As on January six, twenty one,
Democracy is in deep danger once more,
Flags, banners, caps, waistcoats, bandeliers,
Manky merchandise and propaganda
Flood pavement, TV screens and Twitter feeds.
What the Fuck? Will this nightmare never end?

Harry Rogers, In the Red Bedroom, 3rd April 2022