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 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
when were they kin
This poem first appeared on New Boots and Pantisocracies (February 2019)
Martyn Crucefix 