Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Two Hilltops

A white wedge glistening
under a great yellow bulb
it squats on the clifftop
clinging to the raw rock as if
some lair of a Bond villain
claustrophobic squares of glass
and iron
puncture the faceless blocks
a hexagonal tower broods
over its nest of thorns
its green metal hood palpable
above the black volcanic stones


‘Her majesty’s prison Grenada’
someone points out to me in passing
It would have meant nothing
just a curiosity
not even a photo opportunity
for my digital tourist eye
but for the history books
those silent whispers of truths
Maurice Bishop
ministers
unborn child in the womb
lined up
gunned down
in the basketball court of the wrecked
St. George’s fort
where I stood


I suppose
unjustly perhaps
it’s a poet’s moment or
maybe all who stand here do it
wonder if the executioners stare
from the barred windows
across the picturesque valley
a short distance to the scene
to where the blood ran
and the bodies were thrown from
the old English walls


Two hilltops close to each other
watching
in a constant eyeless vigil
the dead shadowing the incarcerated living
the triggermen and the would-be leaders
sleepless
with guilt or vengeance or nothing at all
I try to put myself there
inside the white wall
inside the trapped mind
finger on the trigger
but I fail
as I was bound to
and just keep my own brief but
intense watch

Monday, August 17, 2009

top 50 books

Inspired by SJ's '100 books to read' post, I've put together my top 50 book I have read, some obvious and some ?, see how many you have read; they're in no order in particular, although the last one is the first book I ever bought.

Lord of the Rings
Hamlet
Long Dark Teatime of the Soul
Hitchhikers Guide
Brave New World
Animal Farm
Down and Out in Paris and London
1984
The Outsider
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog

The Republic
Waiting for Godot
A Snail in My Prime
To kill a Mocking Bird
Origin of the Spices
I Claudius
Hitler: My Part in his Downfall
The Anubis Gates
The Colour of Magic
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Ulysses
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Gulliver’s Travels
Fall of the Roman Empire
The Iliad
Lord of the Files
At Swim-two-birds
Naked Lunch
Catch 22
A Clockwork Orange

A Christmas Carol
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Frankenstein
Dracula
Dune
The Histories
The Satanic Verses
The Time Machine
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
A History of Britain

The Divine Comedy
The Canterbury Tales
The Odyssey
Dead Souls
Oedipus Rex
All Quiet on the Western Front
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The Crusades
Ogre Ogre
In the Cravens of the Snow Witch
(first book I owned)