Review: 2016

Went to see the new Star Wars film the other day

Wasn’t that good – but that’s ok,

Movies aren’t made for me, are they?

Anyway, it was alright.

Riz Ahmed was in it.

And Peter Cushing was in it

And the kiddie out of Rizzle Kicks,

Who even gets a few lines;

Good for him, mind.

(Last time I seen him, he was in a battle rap where

The other fella called him a prick

And he said No, you’re the prick,

If anyone is.  Or something like that,

I’m sure you know about these things.)

And there’s loads of other people in it I recognised,

Including Carrie Fisher, who died

The day before I saw it.

Which made me think about all the people who died this year, like

Some people I knew, and some people I didn’t

Bowie, Cohen, Prince,

George Michael, Phife Dog –

The list goes on and on.

But then I think about all the people I know who are still alive,

Who will survive the year.

Those I know, and those I don’t.

And then I think of all the terrible things that happened this year

That all those Review Of The Year TV and radio things

Will talk about

And there’s plenty of them,

Which will employ humour to mask the pain of change

And the fear that 2017 might be

Even worse.

But then I remember that

The 20-year civil war in Colombia came to an end this year

Which, if you are not from/in Colombia,

You probably won’t know about.

But you probably should, because it might just be instructive

And give us an idea how to resolve conflict.

Also, this year someone put a cash machine on Stokes Croft

That charged a couple of quid for patrons to retrieve their money.

It lasted about two days of extreme graffiti,

Before it was removed.

A couple of months later, a free cash machine was installed on the wall

Of a takeaway just opposite the place

Where the first one was taken away after a few days.

It might sound like nothing, but I think it has implications

And demonstrates, (perhaps in a crude way), at the very least, that we

Still can control our environment and community.

Also, Leicester won the Premiership – which, to be fair,

You need not care about if you are not in/from Leicester.

But I heard a song about death in 2016,

And the chorus floored me:

“One little flicker of light

Can erase the dark.”

Anyway, in the new Star Wars film,

There’s a holy city, which appears to me

To be based, very deliberately, on a real holy city.

And, in 2016, this is, presumably, resonant –

Or redolent…of…of, um…

Hang on – isn’t Peter Cushing dead?

Well, he can’t be, he’s in the new Star Wars film.

No, I’m sure he died years ago, didn’t he?

And yet, there he is, on the big screen

Moving about and saying things….

Afterwards, I check, on the internet

(That’s what people do these days, isn’t it?)

And, sure enough, Peter Cushing died

In the 90s….and yet,

There he was

In the new Star Wars movie.

So, the conclusion for me, I suppose, is

What Peter Cushing is saying, in the new Star Wars film, is:

Death, where is thy sting?

Take that, 2016.