POEMS ON THE COLSTON STATUE
TOPPLED
Saddam, Stalin,
Colston
not much dignity
in the toppling of a statue
dignity the veneer
that varnishes so much blood
and plop! there he goes
to lie for not quite all eternity
at the bottom of Bristol harbour
the waters covering the horror
masquerading as trade and industry
not for him
the stark choice of suicide
springing overboard to
drown in the depths of
the Atlantic Ocean
in preference
to fate
worse
than death
deprive them
of that bit
of fair price
chained and
broken
humanity at
its most serviceable,
most valuable
EXCHANGE RATE
the statue
is sad
the statue
is broken
it no longer
stands erect
on its plinth
but lies
at the bottom
of Bristol harbour
ignored by
the sharks
(there are
always sharks)
they know
the exchange rate
of human meat
CARPET
whatever
else history is
(as thing that
is written
per Prof Haydn
White)
it is a pushing
of stuff
under
the carpet
classic repression
and with eighteen
thousand
men, women,
children
fed to
the sharks
you might imagine
how big
that carpet
must be
FINAL THOUGHT
ON THE COLSTON STATUE
am surprised
that the statue
sank
in my book
it should have floated
the physics of
its anti-humanity
keeping it from
disappearing
like a truly truculent
piece of unflushable shit