Hope Out of Despair
Mankind with progress vision,
Saw a pretty penny or a grand.
Yet many monsters of destruction,
And pollutants spoilt our land.
A sale without conditions,
Or a box without a key.
Brought a heart that's ever hardened,
By a veil we cannot see.
But there are grains of sand across the ocean,
And multitudes of stones from far away,
In courageous restoration,
When safe from those who slay.
See the leaf that falls like it's a whisper,
Or the majesty of mighty oak.
Be sure that sunnier days will follow,
Our destruction by fire and smoke.
Clear the dust from fearful vision,
Tilt your head up to the sky.
Paint a smile on perfect features,
To leave dark clouds left to cry.
_
Karen Burns is 51 and lives in Coventry, England. She is a graduate at Warwick after completing a Social Studies degree. Her interests are reading, poetry, writing reviews and she has a blog all about her daughter who has an eating disorder.
My name is Mary Raftopoulos, and I am a reformed shopaholic. There was a time when my wardrobe was less of a collection and more of a fast-fashion landfill in disguise. As a kid, I thought nothing of buying the same pair of shoes in every colour, like I was collecting Pokémon, except my catchphrase was “gotta wear ‘em all… once.” I would also use Primark like a disposable clothing store. Wear it, bin it, repeat.
But growing older has a funny way of shifting your perspective. The more I learned about the realities behind my shopping habits - the waste, the exploitation, the sheer environmental cost, the harder it became to ignore. Slowly, the thrill of a quick purchase was replaced by a different kind of satisfaction of finding interesting pieces that outlived fleeting trends.