In The Poetry

Then one morning you’re tying your shoelaces
And there they are, two more-than-cracks in your favourite shoe
Which couldn’t have been there the day before; or are you past
Observing details so close to home? And, yes,
For leather suddenly to give out without warning is unsettling
(Though, on reflection this is how things happen; for how terrifying
To base your [...]

I suppose, just two words that one might draw attention to. One is Anancyman. Anancy is the spider god that came over from Africa to the Caribbean, and informed so much of our literature; the weakest creature in the forest, who had to get his way by subterfuge and cunning rather than by strength [...]

I read this poem in Uganda and I presented it as a lament for my sister’s cat, a little kitten that was trained not to go downstairs in the yard because it wasn’t safe, and one day it escaped, went down into the yard and was torn apart by wild dogs. The poem [...]

This is the burning-pot, last time the rice.
Tonight, it’s the specially-bought organic potatoes.
So, time to sit back and ponder why it’s gone wrong.
You never were a ball-player, a Sobers, a Beckham.
Even juggling with Latin embarrassed you with its spillage
Of meaning. So why persist in thinking, after a life’s experience,
You could better what the [...]