Tuesday Poem – “Ukritye”, by Mario Petrucci

(Chernobyl, 1986) Even the robots refuse. Down tools. Jerk up their blocked heads, shiver in invisible hail. Helicopters spin feet from disaster, caught in that upwards cone of technicide – then ditch elsewhere, spill black running guts. Not the Firemen. In rubber gloves and leather boots they walk upright, silent as brides. Uppers begin to …

Duffy Furiosa

I'm behind the times again. (Being sick for a week will do that to you.) Carol Ann Duffy has offered her first official poem as UK Poet Laureate, called "Politics", and it's a cracker – read it here. (In case you're wondering where the title of this post comes from, it's from Prof. John Sutherland's commentary …

new poems for Winter 2009

Well winter is definitely here, and if you click on Poems, you'll see that I've refreshed the offering for winter 2009 – this time it's the full Cowarral sequence. Enjoy!