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in Memphis (2022) / on Ukraine
We’re at a bus stopOn Elvis Presley BoulevardWe’ve been to checkThe King’s still deadAnd waiting thereIn Tennessee’s afternoon heatWe talk of EuropeWhat we’ve shared of itThe moral question?For a young Polish man from EnglandOn holiday with his fatherThere is no doubtI’d be going home to fightWith no thought of checking outHeroic resistanceRemember The AlamoThe Red →
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on Ukraine
It is like dealing with a kid”Time to stop now.”Absolutely no response”I said, that’s enough.You’ve been on that game too long.””Hang on. I’ve nearly finished this level.””No. Stop now! That’s enough.Come out of your room.You must join us at the table.””I’m really into this now.And I’m not really hungry.””It’s your favourite dish.It’s been especially prepared. →
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on Ukraine
24th August, 1991Tearing a strip off the Iron CurtainThe Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic broke awayNo one said it would be easyKyiv wasn’t built in a dayOut of the maelstromThe stirring of the potThe plot and counter-plotA nation finding its feetAfter decades of decayWith grey painted over the cracksUkraine turned toward the light pouring through the →
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on Ukraine
something straight out of The Brothers Grimminnocence of children betrayedin their thousandsabducted, shipped, farmed outblond hair, blue eyes their appealto childless Russian couplesconscripted to Moscow’s Young Armytaught to deny their birthplaceif they were ever old enough to know from where they sprang~n.b. Check it out, the War Crimes are not just the levelling of villages, →
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on Ukraine
that closeeye-to-eyehard not to smileas hand greets handimpossible to knowhow things will golet’s be frankthe two might find common groundto tradeor they might agreeto disagreewhile Kyiv at centre stagewaits in the wings~ CLP 15/08/2025 →
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on great men
it is laughable to believeto consider it even possiblethat one man can run the showwrite and re-write historyit takes at least thirteenas Jesus knewJudas had a part to playPonticus Pilate tooDon’t just point your trigger finger at oneIt takes a village to raise a childA nation to raise a tyrant~ CLP 11/08/2025 →
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on Ukraine
all the neighbours knowsomething’s not rightwe suspect there’s a meetingthey’ll be talking about ushow we’re being mistreatedbut it won’t change anythingwe’ll still be getting those beatingswithout regard to our feelingslocked in our roomthat muffles our screamingbarricaded in our roomkicking and screamingalone in our roomtrying to fight off the demon~n.b. USA and Russia to meet in →
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on Ukraine
sculpt, paint, write, sing, danceart distinguishes peoplewar extinguishes~n.b. Now, more than ever, artists are needed to keep the soul alive.There was an exhibition of art from Ukraine at the Royal Academy of Art in 2024.Contemporary art from Ukraine can be bought from Art for Ukraine, a charity connecting buyers directly to artists working in Ukraine. →
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on Rain
dampen the spiritwash away the angry tearsdilute the spilt blood~n.b. Rain is our immediate concern. It draws our attention to what to wear today, how to travel, a review of plans, whereas it never rains rain in Gaza, and of course, summer is warm, mostly dry in Ukraine. Their rain comes from munitions factories around →
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on Ukraine
It was a week after the Bataclan battleYoung people from Paris in EvreuxEscaping the shock waves of griefTalking of the end of the worldRealising the conversation was about the end of humanityIdentifying that nature will persistKeeping faith that this Blue Planet will keep spinningUnderstanding that it is us who will passLeaving our stainIn fossilised citiesRailway →
Journey of Words 