Tag: Poem

Take a #Knee: a #poem in response to the #death of #georgefloyd because #blacklivesmatter after centuries of #othering

It only takes a knee to comfort a child,
To receive a knighthood,
To listen to a god - to be inspired;

Just a knee for grouting around tiles,
To ask a girl if she will,
To loosen bolts and change tyres;

Perhaps two for French cricket,
To warm a lamb as its fed,
To chase mice, all smooth and sleekit.

It only takes a knee placed very precisely
To stop a man’s breath,
To fully express centuries of othering.

Vassal

The grass grows still.
Gulls remain a-wing

Their cries unfilled, despite.
One step follows another,

Paused perhaps,
Unwilled for a moment.

The sun rises, falls, still.
Stillness is still, still.

Happiness is unaffected,
Sadness unmannered,

Grief raw – none of these change.
The swing of plaid

at the back of the knee,
this too remains – implying

something does not.
That vassal doubt perhaps?

The effect of Scottish Independence on England: @DeborahOrr nails it!

Scottish independence would change England more than Scotland

Had to share this article in Saturday’s Guardian, which was in turn inspired by J. K. Rowling’s recent donation to the Better Together campaign. A really interesting take on what is going on – and right in line with Angus Reid’s Modest Proposal which speaks to, in my mind anyway, the UK’s present democratic deficit.

A Modest Proposal
from the poem, Call for a Constitution

if I as a writer of poetry
were called upon to give a form of words
to model the nation’s behaviour
it would be this: ownership obliges
everyone to respect and to care for
the sacred; to respect and to care for
freedom of conscience; and to recognise
the gift of every individual
to respect it, care for it, nourish it;
to respect and to care for communities;
and to care for the land, and wherever
the land has been abused to restore it
so that it can support all forms of life:
five principles, five fingers on the hand.

NB. Just realised appropos the above, today’s the day when the Scottish Gov’t published its consultation on a constitution. Not as poetic, but I really liked the idea of popular sovereignty – we’re all our own rulers. Heady stuff – a lot to be admired, a lot to be discussed …

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