Michael Shepherd - ! Threats and Opportunities

Here’s three cheers
for Jon Haidt, who’s reminded us
in ‘The Happiness Hypothesis’
that our lingering primitive selves
respond more quickly to a threat
than to an opportunity…

and thus, a more powerful emotional weapon
in the hands of politicians and journalists
and others with an axe to sharpen..
while astute moneymakers, more than the rest of us,
look always for an opportunity…

so President Bush hastens to warn us
that ‘Iran remains a threat’…
and so do you, George…and
so do bananaskins, and wet leaves
on a warming sidewalk after frost…
and polar bears to garbage cans -
themselves under our human threat
from global warming…

It’s a world of threats, and threats of threats…
wars and rumours of wars, as the good book says…
maybe I should stay in today…but then…
was this, then, how the West was won?
I think not…

Some say, still say, that somewhere out there
there’s One who made a world
entirely of opportunities…

Meanwhile, pity politicians
in a world of spin:
if Dubbya-doh came out tomorrow
all bright-eyed and Bushy-tailed (by security men…)
and announced in upbeat tones,
‘Iran remains a golden opportunity…’
we’d all turn to each other and say,
‘What’s he up to, then? ? ’
and oil shares would fluctuate...

well, there you are… if boredom threatens at this point,
an ice-cold can of beer remains
a golden opportunity…

Michael Shepherd

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/threats-and-opportunities/