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on his high horse
Here’s a man high on a horseA horse on a hillA hill over an estuaryAn estuary to the North SeaThe North Sea stretching to BelgiumBelgium’s Flanders FieldsTo Flanders Fields he sent the finest young menThe finest young men of a generationA generation decimatedDecimated in a mechanical warA mechanical war overseen by a man high on →
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Ghazal for Gaza
Accursed gates forced open eighty years agoMy mother still a child, eighty years agoWhat happened there must not be forgottenEven fire could not cleanse the earth, eighty years agoListen to the gnashing and grinding of teethAt prising apart Hell’s jaws, eighty years agoOh Israel, how could a nation born from thisLet one man lead you →
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on memory
Precious secondsNo longerThan a pulseSparking through a synapseA silent rewindLacking beat of heartHeat of breathSweat of browYour tighteningReleasing meYou breakingInto laughterWith my spent collapse Again, again, moreThan I can bearTo remember~n.b. Sometimes it would be nice to be allowed to forget, n’est-ce pas? CLP 03/12/2024 →
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on Ukraine
Unless a riverMountains, deserts, lakes or seaDivides usThere are no bordersThey are malleableLines on mapsPencilled inLike warWhere no rules exist ~ CLP 09/08/2024 →
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Charlton Away
Saturday morning in FebruaryAn Azerbaijani barberWoolwich Road, SE10Student of Anglo-SaxonBemoans the errorsAnd ill-fortuneOf Edward GodwinsonAt HastingsThe military dictatorshipOf William bastardusThe carve-up of the old kingdomsEnslavement of the peopleThe castles casting shadowsOver those who built themLessons learntTaken abroadBy Royal NavyAnd Redcoats armyUntil America stood upWelcomed the exiled PaineThe Rights of ManApplied Common SenseBroke freeUnlike the English →
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on Ukraine
one hundred years onnames carved into monumentsparents must explain ~ n.b. One day this horror too will be history. The battle then becomes preventing another. CLP 04/05/2023 →
Journey of Words 