By Strider Marcus Jones

Darwin can't explain the missing link,
and science, did not invent the goal
of faith in how we think-
but Newton keeps us
sane to find the whole
gravity and reason for our role-
in calculus.

science beyond ours does exist,
in un-deciphered hieroglyphs
and alchemies of metals
malleable like petals
on spaceships
crashed in Roswell, gone
to Area 51.

like Dedalus, who prayed too good
through Dublin's streets
of saints and sinners,
while whores exchanged their treats
for cash, from winners and beginners-
i walked towards the priesthood,
but woke up wet with wood.

i realised, Carlisle was right in saying:
no lie can live forever-
that the Gods we make together 
praying-
don't care or intervene
in human fate and actions-
so Spinoza's God is seen,

in the orderly reactions
of the universe-
creating life, and waiting hearse-
but metaphors of doubt persist
on the road to Armageddon,
for if physics shapes all of this-
what shapes these cloths of heaven?

by Strider Marcus Jones

Previously published in Issue Three of The Candid Review, 2024.

The Importance of Arts, Culture & The Creative Process

The civilised world faces a stark choice between surrendering our human rights and freedoms to plutocrats like Putin and Trump with their billionaire technocrats like Musk, reducing us all to serfdom under global surveillance by Artificial Intelligence or, we can help to create a new renaissance in the Arts, Culture and The Creative Process embracing all cultures and social backgrounds to inspire inclusive creativity, social justice and empathy in the humanities as a counter balance against social exclusion and political extremism. This project is fundamental in inspiring and steering this process but it must support and encourage those from poorer social backgrounds.

What was the inspiration for your creative work?

I am one of those kids who grew up in poverty but never gave up due to inspiration from my teachers and parents.

Tell us something about the natural world that you love and don’t wish to lose.<br>What are your thoughts on the kind of world we are leaving for the next generation? : Forests, mountains, coastal waters, the desert, all animals, birdsong, summer rain and snow. Climate change is real. It is happening now and unless we all admit it and start behaving more responsibly to help alleviate its cataclysmic destruction the next generation will be reduced to living in a Mad Max world- until the nuclear power stations go into meltdown.

Photo credit: Strider Marcus Jones

Strider Marcus Jones – is a poet, law graduate and former civil servant from Salford, England with proud Celtic roots in Ireland and Wales. He is the editor and publisher of Lothlorien Poetry Journal https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/. A member of The Poetry Society with multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations, his five published books of poetry https://stridermarcusjonespoetry.wordpress.com/ reveal a maverick, moving between cities, playing his saxophone in smoky rooms.