Current Affairs

It’s an assignment from school:

Write about a current affair,

News is at ten, can check the headlines-

A good summary of the world’s suffering,

With celebrity fiascos and sports mixed in.

The newsreader’s talking about that imaginary place,

Third world countries-

A land where everyone seems too skinny,

But their children have swollen bellies,

And it’s grim but that’s where the marks are at, so you jot a few notes

But now the bloke’s talking about the middle east-

A label that means war,        

And something bad’s happening, but it’s far away,

And you’ve already missed so much-

Impossible to catch up,

And what could you do anyway?

You’re one person-

Not a miracle worker.

So you switch to the monkey video that’s a media sensation for no apparent reason,

Watch with a blank stare,

Completely unaware,

Now it’s world conflict, but far away so why should you care?

And Russia’s done something to someone,

But you’ve already got your topic- just wait for them to go back to it.

Now it’s draught in Africa, probably Ethiopia- possibly Somalia,

They’re African countries,

And let’s face it- they’re all interchangeable,

And it’s not your topic, so why should you bother to learn it?

Those people have bigger problems than some kid in England who can’t remember where they’re from,

Their crops aren’t growing so they’re probably starving,

They’d make a good topic but you’ve already picked it,

So now the newsreader’s going on about some politician,

Planning to bring something to the country,

But politics isn’t an interest, so you’ve often confessed,

And now it’s the turn of sport:

Who’s won what, and things of that nature,

Some manager’s probably quitting or something or other.

But your  topic’s come up, you watch, breath bated,

It’s like the words flow directly from the screen to your paper-

Nothing stops to sink in,

You couldn’t tell me what was on that paper for all the money in the world,

But that’s fine, the assignment isn’t a presentation,

And it doesn’t take an expert to read facts and figures,

Or to describe asylum seekers as job stealers,

And it’s no crime to throw the loss of a life between a senseless video and a goal from some game,

In this world it’s all the same,

War, death and fame,

In the end it’s all sound and pictures,

It’s all current affairs,

And at the end of the day, no one really cares.