Guerrilla Nature

Most of them don’t know me,

But most of them ask me,

“Why are you so angry?”

Some of them do know me,

But apparently not adequately or amply enough,

To know not to ask blithely,

“Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, they told me,

“Just go to school and do your work and it’ll all be tickety-boo.”

But before I was considered mature,

A feeling grew that what I had been told was untrue.

That’s when they began to implore with calls of,

“Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, they told me,

“You can do anything you set your mind to,

But you will only get back out of life what’s due,

In return for what you contribute, it’s up to you.”

So I set my mind to doing all I could do,

And I put it all in, but the return hasn’t come through.

And now they ask me, “Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, I would say, or sometimes shout, “It’s not fair!”

And they would say, “Life isn’t fair.”

Which seems to be one thing that turned out to bear out,

But now, when I dare to raise awareness of unfairness,

Or suggest that we could change that with care and togetherness,

They accuse me of endeavouring to scare,

And then they ask me, “Why are you so angry?”

They told me that there are good guys and there are bad guys.

They told me that the good guys are on the side,

Of justice, peace, truth, love and all that’s good and nice,

They told me that the bad guys were on the side,

Of injustice, hatred, greed, fear and all that’s bad and lies.

And then I got a little more wise and stopped taking their advice,

So now they ask me,

“Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, they told me about Jesus and God and Christianity,

I learned about Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Rastafarianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Jainism and so many other isms,

It grew to sound to me like a cacophonous calamity,

I wonder how they correlate belief systems with sanity,

In accordance their theories, which continue to baffle me,

But they keep telling me I’m missing what gives them clarity,

Then asking me,

“Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, they told me to be honest, tell the truth, never lie.

They said that as long as I stuck to that advice,

I would never have a reason to cry. I asked, “Why?”

They replied, “There’s no reason to fear the light,

As long as you have nothing to hide, which you won’t, if you’ve never lied.

They also taught me about Santa Claus and Great British pride,

And that good people definitely always go to heaven when they die.

And now they ask me, “Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, they used to ask me,

“What do you want to be when you’re older?”

And at the time, I did not possess the wisdom,

Anecdotally attributed to John Lennon, who was bolder,

When he was asked the same question as a child by his teacher.

And now I ask myself, “have I acquired that wisdom yet?”

And I would like the answer to be in the affirmative, like, “Yep.”

But I don’t feel sure of anything anymore.

Yet they ask me, “Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, they told me to trust,

Trust the doctors, trust the police, trust the courts, trust the rule of law,

Trust the companies, trust the system, Trust the uniform,

But all of these things have proved to be unjust,

And / or too pushed for resources and time to do much more than lie,

To excuse or cover up their incompetence, inadequacy and muck-ups,

And now they have the audacity to ask me,

“Why are you so angry?”

When I was younger, they told me I could be anything I wanted to be.

I didn’t want to be angry.

So I refuse to be angry.

But that does not mean that there will be no expressions of anger from me.

I am not angry.

I am not anger.

Anger is not what I intend to be.

Like you, I am eternity.

I feel anger. When I express that, I am accused of hatred and abuse.

But the truth feels like hatred to those who hate the truth.

Why do you not feel and express anger too? And if you do,

How could you and why would you ask me,

“Why are you so angry?”

Above: “Advisory Notice” in writing (please note that there might be some minor discrepancies between the more recently edited published printed version, as above, and the spoken version in the video below)

Below: content related to the written version of “Advisory Notice”

Above: content related to the written version of “Advisory Notice”

Below: back to Performance Poetry