Gloom and Doom (sorry)

Gold cherry
Poem of the week
Pick of the Month

By Jane Hyphen

Wed, 14 Jan 2026
  • 1208 reads
26 comments
 

 

Gloom and Doom

Can you feel it?

It’s not just the weather, the darkness

It’s something more and it’s spreading

In the gardens and the towns

Dripping through the country

And beyond our concept of beyond

Where optimism once lit up a space

Somewhere in the clouds

And we felt that it could fall on us

And germinate better times

But now….

 

Even the strong seem pathetic

Against these times, their promises

Sound like lies, even to themselves

And for the devils there are gaps

Wide open and unmanned

Straight paths lead nowhere

One must walk sideways

Or down into the underworld

If you stand still, you’ll go back

Until you disappear

 

I’m the lucky one

But I see the doom birds circling

And the gloom sticks to my feet

Even those men who in brighter times 

Carried sandwich boards upon their shoulders

Saying that ‘the end is nigh’

Are too scared to leave the house now

For this is not the end they’d hoped for

It’s worse. 

 

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by TJW on

Even the strong seem pathetic - not are pathetic, so there's where optimism lights up a space.  So it ain't all gloomy and doomy.  And who ever gets the hoped for end?  What's a sandwich board?

V/R

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

I suppose it's about feelings rather than facts. A darkness in the air but still some humour. I don't know what I'm hoping for in the end but hopefully it's not a boring sandwich.

 

Submitted by TJW on

Hoping, hopefully - there you go, girl.  Again, it ain't all gloom and doom.  You can feel something else.

 

Submitted by SoulFire77 on

This is channeling Bukowski's "The Last Night of the Earth" (which I love). I think dystopia is a writer's form of "playing the blues". I'd like to believe that when it "all goes down" or society collapses altogether that one of us will have the presence of mind to pull out their pen and start writing. Until then, let's practice bracing for the end once in a while. Excellent work!

 

"Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes..."

   - Charles Bukowski, "Dinosauria, We" (1992)

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Ooh yes, I love this, thank you for sharing, SoulFire 77.

You ask yourself, has the world changed or is it just me? It's tipped too far one way for sure but if we all quickly run to the other side, will it tip back or will we end up in a long cycle of chaos?

Thank you for your comment.

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

A fool elevated into a rich hero - what prescient writing.

 

Submitted by HarryC on

One of my favourites, too. 

This is why writers are so necessary. They're there to open our eyes to these things, show us our possible futures, remind us of who we are. As Richard Ford said: 'We come to literature... for, among other things, a view of morality in action, one of morality's main tenets being how we assess those human choices made as a consequence of no choice being clearly the right one.' And later, quoting St Beuve's requirement of the very best writing: "That it enrich the human mind, increase its treasure, cause it to advance a step, reveal some eternal passion in the heart where all seemed known and discovered."

Orwell and Huxley presented their individual dystopias for readers to ponder - 77 years ago and 94 years ago respectively. And now we have both of them. So maybe I've undermined my own argument! Oh well... frown

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I know exactly how you feel Jane. The powers that hold all the cards! As the saying goes. We the people can only hope that time heals and puts us back on track...here's hoping. 

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Jenny, yes we can only hope that some balance is restored, peace, common sense and opportunities for our young people. The world feels mad at the moment but I find myself asking, is it just me? This weather isn't helping much either. Nevermind, spring is just arouynd the corner.

Thank you for reading, Jenny smiley

 

Submitted by celticman on

don't worry about it. always great advice If you don't worry about it, there's really something wrong- with you. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

'It'll be alright,' as a wise man once said. Dismissiveness is always on hand and it's free. Thank you celticman x

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I can feel it too Jane and it's drained every last drop of enthusiasm that I ever had for anything. The power-crazed lunatics (particularly the dayglow paedophile protector and his unruly mob) are coming very close to destroying everything we have in the world that's worth having. In my rural Balkan hideaway I've switched off the outside world. Please give me a shout if anything good happens. And if you'd like to share our air raid shelter, when you get here you'll find the key under the mat.

Blessed be the fruit.

 

Turlough

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you, Turlough. A rural Balkan hideaway, you're in one of the best places I hope. I've gone semi-rural but the constant drip is deafening. Lunatics and a whole lot of dirty greed; all it takes is the rest to roll over like little dogs. If anything good happens I will inform you, by pigeon. The pigeons are the only ones I trust these days.

 

Submitted by HarryC on

I'm as off-grid as I can be in my little corner of the Kent coast... which isn't easy. I'd like to think it's just down to getting older and finding the world increasingly confusing. But I've been confused by the world for enough years now! And this is definitely the most confusing I've ever found it to be. Possibly because that's what it actually is. wink 

Submitted by GlosKat on

I read an article on the BBC website the  other day by veteran war correspondent Jeremy Bowen.  He said that in his 50 years of reporting on wars around the globe he's never seen a year like 2025.  He was talking about existing conflicts not being solved, and new ones springing up.

I know it's easy to think 'doom and gloom and oh everything's getting worse', but when someone like Jeremy Bowen, who really knows his martial onions, says it's getting worse, then I'm inclined to believe him. 

 

Submitted by HarryC on

I agree... I saw that interview, too. Same with the American historian Heather Cox Robinson, who has an excellent podcast on current affairs - with a US angle, but embracing wider concerns. She's never been one to use the 'F' word lightly, and has in the past argued that it gets over-used to the point where it loses its meaning. But she's using it now. And if she says it is, then as far as I'm concerned that's what it is: fascism.

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

This is our social media Pick of the Day, please share if you like it too

It's also our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!

Picture Credit:https://tinyurl.com/345xpk4t

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Very well deserved accolades for words that match my thoughts.

Turlough

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you so much for this little pick-me-up, even if it does bring everyone else down..

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

They carried boards saying, 'The end is nigh' not to promote gloom, but to wake up to preparedness. 

It's easy to concentrate on all others seem to be/are doing wrong. And so it has always been. If we concentrate (and it is easier in the spring!) on what we can do of use, it helps. 

But most of all if we believe the message that there is a God, we can pray to him, and have expectations of better things to come. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

I think most found those guys to be doom mongers, even if their intentions were honorable, they tended to put a taint on your lunchbreak if you were out and about in town, especially the shouty ones, preaching with hostility.

I agree that concentrating on what we can do of use really helps, even if what we do isn't as helpful as we think it is, it certainly lifts our own mental health and that is the essence of do-gooding.

A spiritual belief of any sort is sometimes all we have left, hope beyond this physical realm. Thanks for reading, Rhiannon, I always appreciate your thoughts.

 

Submitted by HarryC on

I think 'Even the strong are pathetic' is right.

What's the old saying? A pessimist is an optimist with the facts. And as George Carlin said: 'Scratch every cynic and underneath you'll find a disillusioned idealist.' I find myself surrounded by Pollyannas and Panglosses. People who say 'I don't follow the news 'cos it's too depressing'. Or 'I prefer to look on the bright side'. Or the even more fatalistic 'If it's going to happen, it'll happen regardless of what we do.' I acknowledge an element of self-protection in all of this. It can be overwhelming even for the most robust of mental constitutions - something I've never had, mind. But we can't just negate it all by ignoring it - or, worse, hoping that the grown-ups in the room will fix it all. I was watching an interview with Tristan Harris (of the Center for Humane Technology) on the AI issue. He said he grew up always having faith that the grown-ups would sort out the problems. And then, when he reached the stage of being in the same room as them and interacting with them, he made the disturbing discovery: there aren't any grown-ups. The world needs waking up to these things. These are dangerous times - more so than any in the last 60 years. That's not being pessimistic. It's being realistic. Understanding these things is the first step towards trying to effect change - huge and impossible though that task might seem.

Anyway... a fine poem, in my book. And I am an optimist. It doesn't have to be this way. smiley

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Harry, thank you for your comment. Unfortunately I agree with you, where are the strong people, the grown-ups that we used to rely on to keep us safe and society stable? Over time it's been revealed that most of them are vulnerable to manipulation and engage in grift for personal gain. Politics mostly attracting power mad bullies, either shamelessly so or under the guise of socialism while believing everybody else is too stupid to believe that their intentions are anything other than noble. I suppose the genuine guys get bullied into obscurity. 

I am also an optimist. I see how how nature rises again after all sorts of carnage and am hopeful humanity will do the same.

 

Submitted by HarryC on

 

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

This is our Poem of the Month - Congratulations!

 

Submitted by HarryC on

Great choice. Well done, Jane.