Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

I woke last night / knowing
I ought now to say farewell
To these verses. That’s always how it is
After several years. They’ll have to make their way
In the world. They can’t be kept
Forever! here under cover.
Poor things. They’ll have to go to town.
A few may be allowed to return
Later. But most will hang around elsewhere.
Who knows what will become of them. Before
They settle down.

And so she settles down / bowing
Her head / to signing a long
And patient queue / of first
Editions. Suspending
My insurgent disbelief / in
My own or international
Capitalism’s future
Prosperity / I
Happily spend too much / observing
That Fr. Kirsch’s tiny / and
Not particularly inspiring watercolours / which
I dutifully admire
As instructed / seem very
Expensive indeed. (A pity / I
Have sometimes thought / I gave up
Drawing!) Back
In the polished U-Bahn / I inadvertently
Step into a compartment / crowded
With refugees – strange-looking
Foreigners, at any rate – with battered
Suitcases / plastic bags / small
Children and cardboard boxes – wearing
Drab and ill-fitting clothes / speaking
Unrecognizable languages. A prim Bavarian
Couple / in matching Loden-
Mänteln / though hopelessly
Outnumbered / exchange disapproving
Glances. And though the wind in
The Englischer Garten / howls
In the naked tree-tops / whips
Up waves on even the tamed
Water of the complacent
Picturesque lake for paddle-
Boats / overfed ducks / and silly
Geese / she wrinkles her nose
At smells of unwashed shirts and
Garlic / he mutters an old / but
Explosive cliché / about the shortage
Of flats and work. The grass will be white
With driving snow / the park
Will be dark and deserted. And
Like many if not most
Bavarians / they will almost certainly
Be a generation or two away
From medieval, profoundly
Catholic, church- and village-
Oriented peasantry / blessed – as I have learned
To my chagrin – with a marked
Tendency / towards extreme
Toughness / both
Physical and
Emotional. Since the common
“Good” must be resolutely
Pursued by all / and since
To pursue it / one
May be assertive – if not
Aggressive – hard-headed, humourless and
Relentlessly efficient / they rather rarely
Apologize. A people such as
This people shall / surely! inherit
The earth. But it is not
A good thing to stand out. And I
Am consciously relieved / at Münchener
Freiheit / to flee the openly
Republican sentiments / of this well-dressed
Respectable couple / and of the well-dressed
Respectable couple / who
Have joined them: “It’s hardly surprising
Now, is it? if we Germans get a bit
Upset: there really are too many
People who don’t belong here. Well, it can’t
Go on like this. So why not
Send them back where they came from?” Believers
In organized authority – like innumerable
Burghers across the civilized
Global village – and functioning best in
Groups / all members of which
Are entitled to mind the others’
Business / tame their children / raise
Their voice at irregularities / and
Conspire to assert the will
Of community / gang or gaggle /
Over the individual / they make excellent
Businessmen, policemen, soldiers,
Educators, priests, orchestral
Musicians / and will no more than
Tolerate – with either grudging
Admiration / envious
Curiosity / or barely concealed
Dislike – anyone or anything
Different / including Gastarbeiter, refugees,
Big-mouthed homosexual film-
Makers, individualists of any
Denomination, poets, eccentrics – and, yes, even
Englishmen – as I ruefully
Reflect / on entering our tenement
Of flats / and passing (did I
Forget to clean the staircase
This week?) the Hausmeister’s orderly
Notice-board. Among such rules
And regimentations / idleness or
Unemployment / are
Taboo. Arriving home / reminded
Of my unrequited hunger / and
Urgent need for
A drink / I nevertheless attempt – am
Tempted again – to escape
From today as well as
Tomorrow / by opening
At random / one of my latest
Impotent – irrelevant – outré
Sources of darkly
Sparkling / slowly
Growing / difference: