Category: free speech
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Footnote : The words at the head of this poem, from Shakespeare’s play Henry VI, are spoken by the man about to become Richard III. In the play, he has just finished murdering the rightful king, Henry VI. … continue reading
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How to Speak in Times of Clamour
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A long time ago, I went away to Greece and spent three months there alone in a hut, facing the rock pictured above. By now, I had lived a youth and much of an adulthood and this was a time for reflection, in case I could make some sense of all that living, never to…
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Where You Live
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This poem was finished on the day of Joe Biden’s Inauguration, January 20th 2021. It does not have the glitter and panache of Amanda Gorman’s poem recited on that day, but I think it carries a great deal of the relief so many of us will have felt on receiving Biden’s clear signals that sense,…
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So where have we got to, so far, in 2021 ?
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So where have we got to, so far, in the year 2021 ? Locked in, locked down, sundered from outer family – again. And everywhere, the virus and its effects, spreading yet further, pressing wider and deeper. The masked face, still – and ever increasingly – the image of our time. In the US,…
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What a Funny Time to say Goodbye to the Chaos Maistro
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So now, suddenly, it’s off with his head, the maestro, that shiny hate-filled spear-head of Brexit. He conducted his own removals, exiting through the front door of course, in full view of the cameras, delivering insult to the last. Not so long ago, a raucous parrot I know, a “bird of paradise” who insists on…
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Words for an Earthquake
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The United Kingdom has left the EU. We have vacated our seat at the high table and it is laid now for just 27 places. We’ve “got it done.” Or “gone and done it.” In recognition of the significance of this momentous step we’ve taken, whatever it may mean, I am uploading here a selection…