I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
– A Dead Statesman, Rudyard Kipling
Tag: poetry
Beautiful, angry poem by @JackieKayPoet in today's @guardian pic.twitter.com/iU40YHDdep
— Ian McMillan (@IMcMillan) May 15, 2015
Text in full:
We closed the borders, folks, we nailed it.
No trees, no plants, no immigrants.
No foreign nurses, no Doctors; we smashed it.
We took control of our affairs. No fresh air.
No bird, no bees, no HIV, no Poles, no pollen.
No pandas, no polar bears, no ice, no dice.
No rainforests, no foraging, no France.
No frogs, no golden toads, no Harlequins.
No Greens, no Brussels, no vegetarians, no lesbians.
No carbon curbed emissions, no CO2 questions.
No lions, no tigers, no bears. No BBC picked audience.
No loony lefties, please. No politically correct classes.
No classes. No Guardian readers. No readers.
No emus, no EUs, no Eco warriors, no Euros,
No rhinos, no zebras, no burnt bras, no elephants.
We shut it down! No immigrants, no immigrants.
No snivelling-recycling-global-warming nutters.
Little man, little woman, the world is a dangerous place.
Now, pour me a pint, dear. Get out of my fracking face.
By Jackie Kay
Poetweet is weird/brilliant.
It builds poems (one of three forms) from the content of your tweets with results varying from odd, to hilarious, to almost (but not quite) profound.
“Is Impressive” by my friend Helen is pretty good, and I also quite like this verse from another of mine (“Next One”):
I’d get so frustrated!
And start following brides.
Guy is pretty good (as expected)
This too (from “No Pass”):
Yellow snow warning for Wales
Sure what to make of Constantine
Mostly mud, water, obstacles
(Rescued and was absolutely find)
Dual monocles
Categories
Choose Your Own (Poetry) Adventure
Inkling Tattoo by Nika Harper, a really rather delightful Choose Your Own Adventure poem.