Kate is a modern spoken word artist, poet, performer, play write and novelist. she won the Ted Hughes award for modern poetry in 2013 and was names a Next Generation Poet by the Poetry book society.
Her song Tunnel Vision describes the subjects I want to touch on through my own work.
[Verse 1]
Indigenous apocalypse, decimated forest, the Winter of our discontent’s upon us
Desolate apostles, left with Strongbow at the crossroads
We are nothing but an eating mouth, oesophagus, colossal
We won’t stop until we’ve beaten down the planet into pellets
Before the interstellar mission to inflict more terrorIt’s killing me, it’s killing me, it’s filling me, I’m vomiting, it’s still in me
Everything is fine really, silly me
Poor kids shot dead, poor kids locked up
Poor kids saying, “This is the future that you left us?”
Stopped up lunch meat, processed, punch from an unclean fatcat
Tasty, tasty poison
Carcinogenic, diabetic, asthmatic, epileptic, post-traumatic, bipolar and disaffected
Atomised, thinking we’re engaged when we’re pacified
Staring at the screen so we don’t have to see the planet die
She speaks of the abuse we have performed on the planet, abuse that has become a natural part of life to us. The abuse that is led by our constant need to fill our lives with objects of luxury that are sold to us, “the winter of our discontent” and “we are nothing but an eating mouth” Consumerism is killing the planet and it will lead us to the end of resources. A capitalist, consumer led economy leaves the human race feeling empty and used. We are nothing but the money we spend, we are nothing but the things we buy. Our consumption is our only contribution to society.
“left with a strongbow at the crossroads” , Society is dumfounded, we don’t know what actions to take towards a better future, with our political leaders plans confused and falling apart, society as a collective are lost and we have no idea how to make impactful actions for change. Instead, we are left with alcohol and common leisure to make life bearable and we drown in it to escape the idea of life’s pointlessness. Addiction is merely escapism.
“everything is fine really, silly me”, There isn’t much left for us to do but remain in ignorant denial about the state of everything, we blame ourselves for feeling down and lost. We chalk it up to self inflicted negative emotions. but we are a reaction to the world around us. there is only so long we can continue to let it go and force ourselves to believe that everything is fine, with our heads down.
“stopped up lunch meat, processed, punch from an unclean fatcat, tasty, tasty poison”
The poor pay for what they can afford, and what is made affordable is unhealthy and processed in factories; stuffed with fat and chemicals, diluted and manufactured for maximum profits. The profits of the owners, “the rich” “the fatcat” people we will never know or be connected to. The ones that watch us suffer and laugh as their bank balance grows ever higher. There is no human growth here, only empty purchases for the benefit of nobody but the rich, who have no interest in the globes state of physical and mental health. Or the globes health.
“staring at the screen so we don’t have to see the planet die” It isn’t really our fault, we just want to work and put food on the table and stay alive and afloat. We use what we can around us to try and stay happy, the introduction of technology has given every home an instantaneous escape pod to another state of consciousness; which we use happily to escape the dark reality that is global warming, social decline, war and starvation.
[Verse 2]
She’s screaming, she’s screaming
The drones turned her beautiful boy into a pile of bones
No body to bury, nobody is home
Running from war, the boat’s full, the boat’s sinking a mile off shore
No beds in the hospitals, our minds are against us
Imagine your daughter was gunned down defenceless on her way to school
There’d be uproar
But she’s collateral damage, it doesn’t matter
Now if our kids are fine, that’s enough for us
You can’t love into a vacuum, there’s got to be a limit
Welcome to the biggest crime that’s ever been committed
You think you and I are different kinds, you’re caught up in specifics
You and I apart are easier to limit
The illusion’s so complete it’s impossible to bring it into focus
Cinematic stock footage, you think people are locusts
Uniform men keep unleashing explosives
She speaks of the pain that people subject to modern warfare suffer daily. The people that have to flee their homes and seek refuge in foreign places. The people that are turned away because we are told that we don’t have enough room for them, and we will suffer and struggle if we do. Widespread media has desensitised us from violence we think is far from us. The illusion of a healthy and happy world, that’s much easier to believe. We are separated and segregated so we are easier to control and keep down from questioning, what is the truth ?
[Verse 3]
Tunnel vision, tunnel vision
Work, drinks, heartbreak
You can’t face the past, the past’s a dark place
Can’t sleep, can’t wake, sitting in our boxes
Notching up our victories as other people’s losses
Another day, another chance to turn your face away from pain
Let’s get a takeaway
And meet me in the pub a little later, we’ll say the same things as ever
Life’s a waiting game
When we gonna see that life is happening?
We choose to focus our minds on the simpler things that are directly in front of us, our jobs, our social life, our relationships. And through this we ignore the global issues of society; but what else are we left to do, we don’t know how to create change, and the people that are in power above us ignore our pleas and protests. Let’s get a takeaway and go to the pub and indulge our senses, get drunk and laugh and numb everything outside of the pubs four walls, escapism from external reality. Life is happening, but is it easier said than done to make a change, or are we comfortable ignoring pain.
And that every single body bleeding on its knees is an abomination
And every natural being is making communication
And we’re just sparks, tiny parts of a bigger constellation
We’re minuscule molecules that make up one body
You see the tragedy and pain of a person that you’ve never met
Is present in your nightmares, in your pull towards despair
And the sickness of the culture, and the sickness in our hearts
Is a sickness that’s inflicted by this distance that we share
Now, it was our bombs that started this war
And now it rages far away
So we dismiss all its victims as strangers
But they’re parents and children made dogs by the danger
Existence is futile, so we don’t engage
But it was our boats that sailed, killed, stole, and made frail
It was our boots that stamped
It was our courts that jailed
And it was our fuckin’ banks that got bailed
It was us who turned bleakly away
Looked back down at our nails and our wedding plans
In the face of a full-force gale, we said
“Well, it’s not up to us to make this place a better land
It’s not up to us to make this place a better land.”
Justice, justice, recompense, humility
Trust is, trust is something we will never see
Till love is unconditional
The myth of the individual has left us disconnected, lost, and pitiful
I’m out in the rain
It’s a cold night in London
And I’m screaming at my loved ones to wake up and love more
I’m pleading with my loved ones to wake up and love more
We disconnect from war and see those people as “other”, we sat back and allowed “our government” or the MEN in power, to destroy lives and communities. we stayed silent and stayed in our homes and ignored the destruction that we could not see, ignore the screams we cannot hear. Our country did all of this for wealth and our banks still crashed and went bankrupt. The wars are still happening and we have no idea why. People are still starving and we tell ourselves that there is nothing we can do, that we are helpless. And we stay in our bubble of individualism because it makes us feel secure. To love more is to hurt more too, but there is not much left to do but feel the pain and take action against it. The people that lead us will destroy us.
yves'blog 