In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: culture

  • Judgement from Paradise

    Posted:

    I don’t think there was any immediate catalyst for this stanza, as far as date or event were concerned. In the UK, as elsewhere, there just seemed to be so few redeeming features, no 5th cavalry rescue , no clearing of the mist, no light of sanity breaking through. The thought that we make a…

  • Speaking of the Worst

    Posted:

    The stanza above makes extensive reference to that extraordinary and justifiably famous poem by W.B. Yeats called “The Second Coming”. Yeats’ poem applies so closely to our own present time, of course. But might that be true of every present time ? Shakespeare too was gripped by the fear of breakdown in the order of…

  • The Parrot Wails

    Posted:

    The parrot thought he was studying the tea leaves. Instead he found himself watching in horror as the tea cup crumbled in his hand… continue reading

  • The Parrot Speaks of Fre-dom

    Posted:

    In the fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer introduced Rhyme Royal to English poetry and all these stanzas of mine about Brexit share that long established rhyme scheme. And Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales and one of those is “The Franklin’s Tale” which I love. And that’s where this medieval word “fre” keeps appearing, later to become…

  • Parrot’s Cage

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    … continue reading

  • Satan at Meat

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  • Parrot Addenda

    Posted:

    Since the Summer of 2018, I have been writing a series of stanzas in rhyme royal, mostly on the subject of Brexit. Each has been written as a separate item, rather than as part of a longer poem. They were produced in response to, and often very soon after, various events and announcements that occurred…