Sic Kunt before the Apocalypse I made an innocent/ignorant prayer back in 2007, when I was living in Lewisham, London (at the time, the highest murder rate in the UK, but also home to an amazing rich multicultural community that was closer than a small town, pilloried & unresourced, where people had each other’s back. The killings were inevitably gang related, young people growing up to fast & getting sucked into crime, because the minimum wage of 5 pounds 50 an hour, people mired in wage slavery, frankly crime looked like a better option). Anyway my ignorant prayer, Burnt badly by a relationship break down Seeking men who could teach how to be a man A way Australian society doesn’t Jamaicans, Algerians, Ghanaians & Nigerians, Was “introduce me to the wisest man in town Coz I’m drowning” Unexpectedly to me at the time A Goddess took pity & introduced me to the most remarkable woman I’ve ever met I’ll omit her name Though it’s on my
‘Deviance’ Poem My dreams are full of screams I wake up shaken & stirred James Joyce would spend days Rearranging 7 or 8 words My days are full of bleeds Where on me the town folk confer The farmers next to Monet Would dismantle his painting subjects Just to upset his practice Threatened by his lifestyle Resentful of his passion Small towns, small minds As I learned in Sociology The label of some as deviant Strengthens the group Who’ve found a common enemy Published & Copyright Malachi Doyle 2024.