#WADOD – Might-Have-Been Brexit Day: March 29th 2019

March 29, 2019 martyn crucefix autobiography, blogging, contemporary British poetry, creative writing, ecopoetry, Indian poetry, New British Poetry, poetry, political poetry, translation, writing all the bridges are down, American punk band, Brexit, Brexit poems, Brighton Women's football team, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Christchurch massacre, data sharing, Facebook, fake news, Gowbarrow, klezmer music, Mozambique, Pantone, scattering of ashes, social media, social media and politics, Speaking of Siva, student loans, the role of the State, tote bag, vacana poems, viral spread, Vitosha, Works and Days, Works and Days of Division

Works and Days of Division – 29 poems by Martyn Crucefix

Drawing on two disparate sources, this sequence of mongrel-bred poems has been written to respond to the historical moment in this most disunited kingdom. Hesiod’s Works and Days – probably the oldest poem in the Western canon – is a poem driven by a dispute between brothers. The so-called vacana poems originate in the bhakti religious protest movements in 10-12th century India. Through plain language, repetition and refrain, they offer praise to the god, Siva, though they also express personal anger, puzzlement, even despair. Dear reader – if you like what you find here, please share the poems as widely as you can (no copyright restrictions). Or follow this blog for future postings. Bridges need building.

Friday 29.03.2019

‘this morning round noon’

this morning round noon we scattered the ashes

likeclicklike my son Thom 21 today

and fifty grand in debt

likeshare I took her to see Can You Ever Forgive Me

a glorious start to the day likelikeshare

snorkelling with turtles I love the sort of sentence

that never seems to end sadly no-one thought

o return my psychic tote bag

my condolences on those occasions I speak about him

he will be nameless in her passing

great job [heart] you Brighton women

like Rishi snapped this one on his morning run

on the path over Gowbarrow

to gather in the market square likelikelikeshare

in the struggle share like-minded children

fell out of the sky O I adore this photograph

my father’s look and how I loved his hat

like a trumpet for whatever is redacted

likelike government existing to promote and protect

the ordinary happiness of its people

shareshare are you cool and gentle peppermint

like beautifully crystallised hibiscus flowers

I was struck by a car likeshare but I’m OK

I hit my shoulder and rolled with it

plus a dash of syrup shareshare the bridges are all

pills and blue sugarcane rum likesharelike

an American punk band from Nashville posting

abuse about a young Buddhist woman

refusing anaesthetic to shareshare

are you feeling blue [smileyfaceicon] likeshare

we chanced across a bar where folk song

and klezmer were playing

as in a mirror sharelikelikeshare as in a mirror

of the world like frost on the Vitosha mountain

I think the Pantone chart is one of my favourite things

Return to the first poem of the sequence

Read previous poem

#WADOD – Day 15: March 15th 2019

March 15, 2019March 16, 2019 martyn crucefix autobiography, blogging, contemporary British poetry, creative writing, ecopoetry, Indian poetry, New British Poetry, poetry, political poetry, translation, writing abecedary, americano coffee, Brexit, Brexit poems, bridges, bridges are down, crude statistics, emigre, Hesiod, jane doe, john smith, kinship, language, moment of conception, mortality, severing of kinship ties, social media, Steve Barclay, vacana poems, Works and Days, Works and Days of Division, xanthoma tendinosum

Works and Days of Division – 29 poems by Martyn Crucefix

Friday 15.03.2019

‘an americano to go’

an abecedary – to Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay, who yesterday could find no kinship between speaking and voting

an americano to go

black of a white man’s heart

crude statistics

when were they kin

daubed with shitty feathers

eggs cracked in a bowl

footnotes about emails

when were they kin

growing weed under LEDs

headlines and tenderness

in the moment of conception

when were they kin

john smith marries jane doe

klaxons sounding

languages east west north south

when were they kin

my emigre daughter

notes from strings of a mandolin

olives in a screw-top jar

when were they kin

pulsing blue in the Uber driver’s ear

queries on the first page

red sky in the morning

when were they kin

share like like share

tangled nests of fishing line

up and over the brim

when were they kin

very near the end

when the bridges are burning

xanthoma tendinosum

you wake and you’re done

when will you understand

zest and intelligence

when were they kin

This poem first appeared on New Boots and Pantisocracies (February 2019)

Read next poem

Read previous poem

#WADOD – Day 7: March 7th 2019

March 7, 2019March 9, 2019 martyn crucefix autobiography, blogging, contemporary American poetry, contemporary British poetry, creative writing, ecopoetry, Indian poetry, New British Poetry, poetry, political poetry, translation, writing agriculture, angling, Brexit, Brexit poems, bridges, bridges all down, cookies, erotic, Hesiod, poetic form, privacy agreements, propagation, Robert Frost, seeing the wood for the trees, social media, Stopping by Woods on a Snowyy Evening, vacana poems, Works and Days

Works and Days of Division – 29 poems by Martyn Crucefix

Thursday 7.03.2019

‘days of over-turning the warmed earth’

days of over-turning the warmed earth

with a spade

each clod a rip in the moonlight

whether you propagate successfully or not

convalescent hours lost gazing into the woods

whether you see the trees

whether you see a particular tree

whether you find the snow falling there or not

hours spent carefully broadcasting lures

attempting long lines

choosing short lines

whether you deceive successfully or not

and cold nights ripened with strings of kisses

long kisses short kisses

whether you find them remotely arousing

or not a trouble of urgencies

in the speaking in the writing in the posting

of every comment whether

it’s read or not whether anyone likes or not

whether you accepted the cookies or not

whether the privacy agreement was signed or not

all the bridges are down

Read next poem

Read previous poem

#WADOD – Day 3: March 3rd 2019

March 3, 2019March 4, 2019 martyn crucefix autobiography, blogging, contemporary British poetry, creative writing, Indian poetry, New British Poetry, poetry, political poetry, translation, writing americano, books for children, capuchino, child's picture book, frappucino, ignoring a child, imagination, lack of communication, latte, macchiato, mother and child, parenting, social media

Works and Days of Division – 29 poems by Martyn Crucefix

Sunday 3.03.2019

‘watch the child at her bright picture book’

i.m. Bernice Joyce Hale

watch the child at her bright picture book

how she mutters

how she gazes into mid-air

her several gestures are of several kinds

it’s as if she does

the different voices herself

while gazing up into mid-air

her mother at her cooling latte

at her macchiato

at her cooling skinny medium cappuccino

at her americano her mother

at her frappucino rising to room temperature

her mother’s ears securely wired

with two scarlet buds

she gazes for minutes into the middle distance

hot red wires snaking into her lap

all the bridges down

Read next poem

Read previous poem