These Dead
All the clapping hypocrisy to one side, carers and NHS staff are underpaid and undervalued, and dying. This is for them, about them. These Dead These dead live in pebble-dashed… Continue Reading
Browsing Category: Life
A birthday poem for a daughter alone in lockdown in London
THAT When the world falls apart Words get lost And we become fingerprints in the sand Thrown over by the wind. Corners are straightened, Straits fracture, and lines Are punctured… Continue Reading
This Modern Disease
They built a wall of contagion, A host of lies to form new patterns No-one was immune against, no-one Could resist, until the mesh became Too tight to untangle or… Continue Reading
La Serenissima
Her stones weren’t made For empires to trample them, Nor her palaces or churches, Nor the streets of water Into her heart. She was blessed and fierce, And kindness never… Continue Reading
The Aftermath
So I have dragged myself into another spurious new year, and, tired to my bones, long for something different, something completely new. Not this same old same old village, however… Continue Reading
Saint Gertrude
She is startled by reflectionsHer one eye doesn’t understand,By the light travelling along the wall,The spectre of full sight eluding her. In the dark, she sees figmentsThat aren’t a part… Continue Reading
First-World Slavery – Of Human Bondage
Does anyone remember the days before Sunday opening? Or the time when nothing happened on Sundays? Or when certain large supermarkets were closed even on Monday mornings? Or those days… Continue Reading
This Mountain of Life
Dear, dear Ren, When you wrote to me in June, I did actually start writing back. I have the scribbled draft in one of my notebooks (behind me in a… Continue Reading
Brecht and Diderot and the internet
Dear Ren, Sorry not to have written back sooner. Ever since I got back from the US, I seem to have been doing nothing but day job work, volunteer commitments,… Continue Reading
Trying (too hard) to grow old disgracefully
Dear Ren, Two weeks ago, my alarm went after I’d got three hours of sleep after getting into JFK at 23:00 EST, getting a ride back to where I was… Continue Reading