George Bernard Shaw

It is Wednesday, and I am wondering if Poets Week will ever be over. I am thinking back fondly of Typewriter Week. But, I will persevere and finish this week of pictures on Poets. Above we feature a photograph of George Bernard Shaw, taken in 1905.

We feature his poem "Back Kitchen" today. To be honest with you, I don't get it.

If you think George looks  a little sinister in the picture above, that would be because he was in fact quiet sinister. He was a fabian socialist, and an early big thinker in the eugenics movement. He was an early and vocal supporter of Adolf Hitler. He believed that government boards should be set up, and people should be required to go before the boards every five years or so to justify their existence. Those who were deemed to be of little value would be killed. He was very interested in science creating a "Humane Gas" to make the task of killing large numbers of people easier. "Humane Gas" was a term he used, and later used by the Nazis, who in fact did develop such a gas, and used it to murder countless people. Shaw's vision was not so much to exterminate specific races, but believed it should be more on an individual basis, with metrics determined by, I guess, his elite group of friends. I am sure "Poets" would have been deemed to be of immense value to society. An interesting youtube video of him here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBRjU9P5eo&feature=related

Back Kitchen

In my back kitchen all is quite still, 

I have cooked my food and ate my fill.

Then the dishes in the sink had their say, 

He always eats here but he does not pay.

The empty bottle of fresh brewed beer, 

Said, 'He drained me dry without a tear.'

Then of course the mess he makes, 

To cook a meal the time he takes.

Could he not eat in the restaurant next door? 

They need the money because the Boss is poor.

The only thing that had nothing to say, 

Was the frying pan it was not its day.

The knives and forks were filled with rage, 

He is a messy eater he should act his age.

Picking out bits here and there indeed, 

No wonder he takes so long to have his feed.

Have you ever listened to your kitchen tools? 

Mine complain I am the king of fools.

They say I should go out to eat, 

Order fresh vegetables with plenty of meat.

Not to come home and start to cook, 

I should be relaxing with a good book.

They have no respect for me you know, 

Just because I am old and getting slow.

I wash the pots and pans clean each day, 

Then I carefully put them all away.

I think I will throw them away onto the rubbish heap, 

Except for the sugar bowl that I will keep.