I will be reading at a queer literary get together in Belfast later this week. One poem by my dear friend the great poet David Bauman, another by Mary Ursula Bethell, and my own (below) inspired by hers and only possible because of David’s encouragement for me to write.
Sabotage
Is a gorgeous word, a rich dark word,
my favourite but little used word. It
is an exotic word with history and power,
a word that evokes another language and
culture, an act and consequence. Or ….
perhaps sabotage is just when shit happens.
It was the strokes that robbed me of my Gran
It was the drink that finally broke a son’s love
It was the dust that ruined a dream vacation
It was a bomb that ended a promising career
It was the red tape used as a pathetic excuse
It was a conversation that broke a Prime Minister
It was the inability to talk that split a couple
It was a pyramid money scam in Romania
It was bigotry that tried to make us move out
It was a handball that diminished a reputation
It was being gay that for so long stunted his life
It was another’s jealousy that ended a friendship
It was an age limit that denied him a new hip
It was a txt message that took away the will to live
It was a betrayal that left him dead on the bar floor
It was two glasses that alas made it all come clear
It was a circled personal ad that hurt her so much
It was a failure to act that brought the towers down
It was a joke behind his back that undermined
It was doing the wrong thing for the right reason
It was because loves blinds us sometimes to the truth
It was for the greater good, but at what cost
It was to protect something older, wiser than us
It was lust or love that cheated her of an inheritance
It was distance and family that meant it could not be
It was oil that made the world even less safe than before
It was a mutual friend’s need that broke his heart
Sabotage is a gorgeous word, a rich dark word,
My favourite but little used word. It can be
for change, scandal, tragedy. It can be
for inaction, or intervention, for love,
hate, drama and desperation. Or…..
perhaps sabotage is just when shit happens.
I wrote and took notes for poems which I am returning to today. The wildlife I encountered was a complete treat; seeing Pacific Otters in the Pacific just enjoying life was a highlight, and a quick glimpse of a Condor in Death Valley a complete surprise.
Vincent in Ireland
