My poem, “Leaves Blown At Night”, came to me as I walked with my guide dog, Trigger, on a December evening in Liverpool. The leaves blowing around my feet reminded me of the fleetingness of things and, in particular my own mortality
Though she
Be hot
He knows her not.
Though the maid
She stayed
And she
Be hot
He knows her not.
Though they did converse
Tis perverse
That she
Be hot
Yet he knows her not.
Though she
Be hot
She knows him not.
A good selection of poems about darkness on the site Interesting Literature, including Thomas Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush”, which is one of my favourite poems. To read “10 of the best poems about darkness” please visit, https://interestingliterature.com/2018/02/14/10-of-the-best-poems-about-darkness/.
I have myself written several poems about darkness, including “Midnight” which is reproduced below:
“Midnight, black as pitch.
No scheming demon, ghost, nor witch.
Only the darkness, which in the human heart resides,
Manifests itself in cruelty and pride”.
(Taken from “Dalliance; a collection of poetry and prose”, by K Morris, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QQVJC7E).
I am a great lover of quotations. I recently came across the below quotation by Arthur Balfour, which struck a chord with me:
“Nothing matters very much, and few things matter at all”.
In his work “The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill”, the late Lord Robert Blake writes of Balfour in the following terms:
“The new Prime Minister was a person of immense charm, great intellectual power, and much political sagacity. Like his uncle, he took it for granted that parliamentary democracy would only work—if it could work at all—as long as “the masses” continued to elect their leaders from “the classes”. Not that he was himself, any more than Salisbury, a typical member of the order to which he belonged. He was too clever, too cool and too detached to be thus categorised …”.
(“The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill”, by Lord Robert Blake. Eyre and Spottiswoode (publishers) LTD. Chapter 5, Tory Democracy and the rule of Lord Salisbury 1881-1902).
For anyone interested in finding out more about the enigmatic Balfour, the following article may be of interest, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Balfour.
Oft of a summer’s day
Have I turned away
To write.
I shall go out tomorrow
And forget my words
In the singing of birds.
But when night
Falls, I shall return what I borrow
From my ever present friend
Old Father Time
And my brief rhyme
Shall reach it’s end.
There was an elderly man named Spink
Who drove his poor wife to drink.
He returned home very late
With his young mistress Kate
In a taxi the colour of pink!
We all
Fall
From time to time
And a few
(Not me and you!)
Hide our crime
From view
In rhyme.
She was Japanese
And while not a tease
Her performance was satisfactory.
The light was dim, and he
Did not understand
She
– Broken
– Spoken,
Far from her native land
Below is a Youtube clip of me reading my poem “Dark Angel””:
Some time ago, I came across this post, https://solifegoeson.com/2017/12/20/white-teachers-who-teach-black-kids-about-slavery-piss-me-off/. I commented, however as my comment was not published I feel compelled to state my opinion here.
In the above post the author argues (essentially) that white teachers should not teach black children about slavery because they (the teachers) do not understand the experience of non-white people (the prejudice faced by those who’s skin is black). At the end of the post the blogger does recommend that one way forward is for those who teach to come from a greater diversity of backgrounds. However the whole tone of the article is hostile to the concept of the teaching of slavery to black children by white teachers.
I am not black. I am, however disabled (I am registered blind). Throughout history disabled people have faced discrimination. This discrimination manifested itself in various forms, including the forced sterilisation of those with disabilities on eugenic grounds. Eugenics reached horrific heights during the Third Reich when Nazi doctors, SS officers and nurses murdered the disabled under the T-4 programme. Indeed the use of gas was first employed on the disabled prior to it being used to exterminate approximately 6 million Jews (men, women and children). You can find out about Action T4 here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_T4.
I don’t, as a disabled person, (nor as someone who holds a degree in history and politics) argue that only disabled people are capable of teaching about the T4 Programme. To argue thus would be narrow minded on my part. Yes, as a disabled person I face difficulties and (on occasions) discrimination not encountered by non-disabled people, however those possessing empathy/those of goodwill can understand (and teach) about such matters.
It concerns me that if we carry the argument promulgated in the above article to its logical conclusion, that only disabled people will teach about disability related matters, only women will lecture on the discrimination faced by women throughout the ages etc. This risks leading to a closed academic environment, one in which I don’t wish to live.
K Morris - Poet 