share


no surrender

you’ll be the war and I’ll be the war-torn

and I’ll be underground resistance

printing pamphlets on sugar paper

and you’ll be the war

 

and I’ll be the girls back home

and the boys on the front line

and the songs that they sing to be brave

when they’re frightened

 

or

 

I’ll be the war and you’ll be the war-torn.

I’ll be the war and you’ll march against me

with the placards that say MAKE LOVE – NOT YOU

then and I’ll be the war

 

you won’t believe I’m even happening

you’ll duck and cover as I paint the town red

and when I tumble home across the whole horizon blasted

you’ll be ruined


ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

was born in Canada and raised in South Wales. She now lives and writes in South London. Her poetry has been included in the Canadian anthology The Edges of Time.



READ NEXT

fiction

November 2014

The Ovenbird

César Aira

TR. Chris Andrews

fiction

November 2014

The hypothesis underlying this study is that human beings act in strict accordance with an instinctive programme, which governs...

Art

June 2015

Sisterhood

Chelsea Hogue

Art

June 2015

A woman appears onscreen. Her hair is short. While the film is black and white, by the colour gradations...

Prize Entry

April 2016

Oh Whistle and

Uschi Gatward

Prize Entry

April 2016

God has very particular political opinions – John le Carré     M is whizzing round the Cheltenham Waitrose,...

 

Get our newsletter

 

* indicates required