"this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"
Illegal logging in community forests, Oil drilling in indigenous territories, Mining concessions in native soils, These have become our warzones. Activists hailed as terrorists, While global agribusiness is Paraded as unchallenged And unchosen liberator. Forever on the right side of progress; Writing its history With cheques, And laws, And body …
Browsing through the foliage You selectively suppress The spindly growths of youth, Maintaining gaps of light Through frequent visitations To clumsily prune each trunkful Of frail and wasteful biomass. Ungainly gardeners of this Fragile, jaded home, Your disturbances reshape Wooded structures and Buried thickets; Shearing lively brushes As you …
Ancient submerged volcanoes Rise up from the ocean floor, Their tips littering the landscape As tremendous shadows of the past Cast a barely visible film of filth Across this false Pacific paradise. Where Spanish conquistadors Once prowled the dunes, Scintillators now sweep across the sands, Combing beaches for dirty treasures …
Breathe in. Your crown of precious hues Glimmers in the setting sun; A steadfast declaration that Your appearance will not be Ordained by the passing of time. Breathe out. Sunbeams dance mischievously Across your jaded fingers, Casting reverse shadows That shimmer invisibly Across a living canopy. Breathe in. Every mouthful …
Sea air shimmers in the evening haze; The gentle rays from a setting sun Reflect the remnants of the passing storm, Cascading skywards in prismic hues to Dry the feathers of the Eastern Meadowlarks That drowsily skim the ocean’s skin. Beneath translucent, foaming waves Shapes begin to dance, unseen; Their …
At the far edges of the world, Hidden deep amongst the Raging seas and rising waves Laze a series of secret atolls and coral coves; Remote islands that are almost entirely Untouched by human hands. Untouched by human hands, But maimed by the detritus that those hands have wrought. As …
You glide across your silky precipice, Enticed by spasms at the edges of your kingdom; You see nothing, Just a loose thread caught in the wind. Suddenly, movement – You do not sense the vibrations Beneath your feet, But from the air above. A shadow falls across your web as …
Sailing swiftly along the salted seashore, Your whiteish throat flanks brown streaks That accentuate comedic orange brows. Amongst saline marshes and sunken reeds You build your nests in tall grasses, Limited by any stable support to protect Our token gesture of ‘high concern’; Your whispery, wheezy song a knowing nod …
Your recent absences have become More pronounced; The late spring evenings are no longer Alive with the industry of your approach, And the flowers in the hanging baskets On the high street fidget with uncertainty. We know that something is wrong, and So we call a meeting in the public …
On the night that Titus fell His night nest was not empty, Not empty, but silent. His body still warm, Still warm to receive The procession of still warmer bodies Come to bear witness to what had Fallen. First comes Umushikirano, He beats his chest and begins to Shake …