Poem of the Month

 

A new poem will be placed here each month, usually from one of my published collections.

 

My poem for April  2017, first published on the website New Boots & Pantisocracies in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum last year, obviously comes back into focus as the ridiculously titled Great Repeal Bill is launched. You may be interested in a general reflection by me on poetry and politics here.

 

 

This England

After the referendum

This little raft, this tub, this oil-drum-lashed
construction on the waves, this fragile thing
with sails constructed from a ragged tablecloth
so proudly independent as it bobs and slaps
against the heaving seas, survives with crew
hand-picked to stare the foreign rabble out.

This floating island, sufficient to itself,
this little England all alone like Crusoe
on his empty beach beneath the palms,
in contemplation of its lovely littleness
while seabirds scream and glide above
and all the ocean and the skies look on.