RKS British Literature: The King’s Justice Worth No More Than a Roast Pippin (Henry Gilbert)

‘Softly, good marshal,’ replied Robin with a laugh. ‘Ye know who I am, and ye know that I reckon the king’s justice or his marshal at no more worth than a roast pippin. Thy justice!’. He laughed scornfully. ‘What is it? A thing ye sell to the rich lords and the evil-living prelates, while you give naught of it to the poor whom they grind in the mire. Think ye if there were equal justice for rich and poor in this fair England of ours that I and my fellows would be here? Justice! By the rood!’

Henry Gilbert, “Robin Hood”, 1912

RKS LITERATURE: “I Hate and I Love”: Bright White Teeth Cleaned by Urine

Because he has bright white teeth Egnatius whips out a tooth flash on all possible

& impossible) occasions.

You’re in court. Counsel for defence

concludes a moving peroration (Grin.)

At a funeral,

on all sides heartbroken

mothers weep for only sons. (Grin.)

Where, when, whatever the

place or time – grin. It could be a sort of “tic”. If so it’s

a very vulgar tic, Egnatius,

& one to be rid of.

A Roman, a Tiburtine or

Sabine, washes his teeth.

Well-fed Umbrians & over

fed Etruscans wash theirs

daily. The dark Lanuvians

(who don’t need to), and we

Veronese. All wash our teeth…

But we keep them tucked in.

We spare ourselves the nadir of

inanity – inane

laughter. You come from Spain. Spaniards

use their morning urine

for tooth-wash. To us that blinding

mouthful means one thing &

one only – the quantity of

urine you have swallowed.

 “I Hate and I Love”, Catullus (84 BCE-54 BCE)

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds):A Certain President and Dementia

A Certain President and Dementia

No, I am not referring to “Sleepy Joe”

It is so inappropriate and cruel to mock those suffering from dementia and strange proteins on the brain

As recently seen a well-known comedian hawking virtual cards featuring the Orange Toad

Having great chuckles about the master deal making businessman specializing in bankruptcies and failed coup attempts

Like a kamikaze pilot taking out “enemies”

Someone described this man as a joke

Not a Saturday Night Live skit

But a real live twit

But being charitable and compassionate

Isn’t it time to realize this man requires help

Perhaps time to join a circle and throw the medicine ball around

But suggest that to millions of mentally challenged front seaters

And they’ll begin to yelp

When it is so obvious this man is an international embarrassment in dire need of help

Has he come a performer in “Nightmare Alley”

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): Scraping the Bottom of the Ajvar Jar

Scraping the Bottom of the Ajvar Jar

The beady eyed one

like LBJ can’t end it with a victory

in a last ditched effort turns to the Supreme Leader for arms and cannon fodder

to further the holy war of unification

a blessed return to historical oppression

so while the Grand Leader supplies scads of drones

the world moans

will nobody learn from the Ho Chi Minh Trail

and the Wailing Wall

humanity in a big stall

All Quiet on the Western Front

For many a brain-dead politician runt!

Robert K. Stephen

RKS British Literature: A Great Fear and Dread of the Forest (Henry Gilbert)

The forest he had heard was a place of dread, for the other villeins had told terrible tales. Of monsters who flew by night and hid in dark thickets by day to snap up unwary travellers; of hills from whose tops at night the glow of fire shone forth, and within which little dark elves or spirits dwelled. Indeed, the fear of little malicious fiends was never very distant from Jack’s mind in those times. These evil things might take any shape, and they dwelled in the spring or the stream, in the wood beside the road, and in the turfs of the grass in the field which he was ploughing or mowing. The whole village, and thousands of villages up and down broad Britain, believed in such wicked sprites, and therefore was no worse than his fellows, or, indeed, than men who were famed for their learning in those days and sat at the council board of kings.

Henry Gilbert, “Robin Hood”, 1912

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): Toronto Hijacked Yet Again but Don’t You Dare Criticize

Toronto Hijacked Yet Again but Don’t You Dare Criticize

Bike lane tyranny where the miniscule lord over the many

and unlike the Lord brazenly give fingers to motorists while breaking all laws known to cyclists

Charity runs clogging city streets and expressways

Charity walks all over the place “for a noble but perhaps obscure cause”

Brain health

Cancer

Why no mention of Mother Tersea?

Charity and sickness porn playing on collective polite guilt

And the booming business of marathons

Street festivals so the innocent are run over and shot

Culturally so IMPORTANT for the FEW

A massive inconvenience for the MANY

“Global inclusion salesmen” ram the trivial down all our throats

Rainbow flags a marketing opportunity for the Big Banks

Where Pride Day has mushroomed into Pride Year

So obtain a permit to close University Avenue, hospital row, to thank those precious stomach pump operators, all heroes on fabricated national television on slow news days

So what if millions of us don’t have the right to paralyze a city like all the other 64,877?

A global inclusion pity

Makes me feel shitty

Robert K. Stephen

RKS LITERATURE: “I Hate and I Love”: My Sweet Ipisthilla (Catullus)

Call me to you

at siesta

we’ll make love

my gold & jewels

my treasure trove

my sweet Ipsithilla

when you invite

me lock no doors

nor change your mind

& step outside

But stay at home

& in your room

Prepare yourself

To come nine times

Straight off together

In fact, if you

should want it now

I’ll come at once

for lolling on

the sofa here

with jutting cock

and stuffed with food

I’m ripe for stuffing

you,

my sweet Ipsithilla

 “I Hate and I Love”, Catullus (84 BCE-54 BCE)

Two Wet Gurgly Type Explosions Heard in the White House This Evening

16July2026: Washington: Spoof News Services

At 10:45 p.m. this evening two wet gurgly type explosions were heard by passerbys on the White House Lawn.

A Secret Service motorcade was seen mulling about the service entrance to the White House loading a body into a Home Depot rental van and speeding off to the Trump Memorial Hospital on the Trump Expressway.

Kary Heaveitup, White House Secretary, informed members of the press in a Zoom meeting call President Trump was eating a large pile of Kentucky Fried Chicken and biscuts communicating on social media about highly relevant matters when his purple and yellow left hand exploded followed by his “plumped up ankle” bursting with epic fury.

Heaveitup indicated the cause of the messy explosion was from wildfires in our 51st State of Canada.

Details will be communicated as Spoof learns them from orderlies and physicians “on our payroll”. Spoof recognizes that one must “pay for truth” on occasion.

Circe and the Cyclops: Beware of Circe the Nymph with the Lovely Braids! (Homer)

She opened her gleaming doors at once and stepped

forth,

inviting them all in, and in they went, all innocence.

Only Eurylochus stayed behind – he sensed a trap….

She ushered them in to sit on high backed chairs, then she mixed them a potion – cheese, barley

and pale honey mulled in Pramnian wine –

but into the brew she stirred her wicked drugs

to wipe their memories any thought of home.

Once they drained the bowls she filled, suddenly

she struck with her wand, drove them into her pigsties. All of them bristling into swine – with -grunts

snouts, even their bodies, yes and only

the men’s minds stayed steadfast as before.

So off they went to their pens, sobbing, squealing

As Circe flung them acorns, cornel nuts and mast,

common fodder for hogs that root and roll in mud.

Homer: “Circe and the Cyclops”

RKS EURO FILM: “Warriors of the Wasteland”: Serbian Samurai and Mad Maxers in a Post Apocalyptic West Balkan World

After a nuclear disaster the West Balkans become a rough and tumble world full of Mad Maxers and a few Serb samurai. Society is splintered with The City a quasi-feudal capital ruled by “The Ruler” or “Lord” exacting tribute from tribes but even The City is carved up into factions along the lines of that American film “City of Vultures”. If the faction controlling The City receives their various forms of tribute, including children, the system hobbles on. And in the film be prepared for double dealing and treachery in the current ruling faction. The film then is a battle for supremacy by differing factions and tribes.

Or for a metaphorical approach think of the old Yugoslavia held in a unified fashion under the grip of Ex Partisan Marshal Tito aka Josip Broz but upon his death Yugoslavia crumbled into disarray and then into “tribal wars”. Is this what the film is really based upon?

“Warriors of the Wasteland” has all the elements of a classic post apocalyptic masterpiece. Superb cinematography, stunning costuming, impressive visuals and killer electro ethno Serb music. Given the dubbing it becomes difficult to make any true assessment of the acting.

A serious downside or perhaps a pointed question of why the dubbing and anglicization of the character’s names? The dubbed voices are for the most part flat and lacking the appropriate annotations. Subtitling would have created a more authentic film. The sound at times overpowers the vocals and well the plot is confusing and overcomplicated so you might wish to surrender to a lack of plot simplicity and enjoy the positive attributes of the film I mentioned above. I watched the film twice which improved my understanding minimally, but what audience can watch a two-hour film twice?

Directed by Nemanja Ćeranić.

Available on Digital.

RKS EURO FILM RATING 66/100.