Our world is alive with public
declarations, territorial admonitions
and artistic explorations,
scribbled, scratched, stencilled and daubed,
bombed and tagged on toilet walls,
buildings, trains, bridges and the underground.
Simple words chipped on ancient tombs,
elaborate murals sprayed with paint,
angry political cartoons drawn with marker,
some in monochrome, others fluorescent,
we leave semi-anonymous traces
of social comment and political ideals,
declarations of love, curses and spells.
Kilroy is still here.
Kim M. Russell, 12th November 2019
My response to Thotpurge’s Poetry Tuesday #2 – New
The prompt today is ‘New; – whatever strikes us as timely, relevant, in your face, here and now. Rajani invites us to share our poems, old or new. I’ve taken an old poem from 2015 and updated it to make it new.
writing in north norfolk 
Oh love the Kilroy reference, Kim! And it draws my mind to Banksy as much as it does to Instagram – our public declarations are indeed everywhere. Here’s hoping they make a difference too! Thanks so much for joining Poetry Tuesday!
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Thank goodness! (K)
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Your last line made me smile, then look through your image to find the Kilroy, and, not seeing the classical figure, translate your words to a hopeful witness. Possibly we will get away with nothing; possibly graffiti is so ubiquitous that people stop reading the signs.
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Thank you, Susan. I wonder what future generations or even visitors to this planet will make of the graffiti.
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So is Banksy! (I love graffitti, even the crudest. And was brought up loving Kilroy, though he was more an English than Aussie figure I think.)
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Oh, I see Rajani thought of Bansky too. 🙂
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