The Poem of the Month for December 2022, selected by 2022 Anthology Editors, Veronica and David Cookson, is A Frugal Proposal by Steve Evans. The commended poems for December are Every Afternoon by Judy Dally and Titled by Nigel Ford.
A Frugal Proposal
Steve Evans
My good-as-unused tinfoil
with just the odd wee tear.
My scruffy bit of paper
a little worse for wear.
My little scrap of cellophane,
my piece of broken string,
my own recycled envelope —
you really are the thing.
A seed that’s caught between my teeth,
a stone inside my shoe,
the gate that squeaks in winter wind
all make me think of you.
When times are bitter-cruel,
companionship so rare,
our love might be quite careful
but it will still be there.
So, empty out your pockets,
throw coins into the air,
I’ve budgeted our romance
and laid our courtship bare.
We might not have a trousseau,
but we’ll make the heavens sing,
and though it’s pinched from a curtain rod,
will you accept this ring?
Every Afternoon
Judy Dally
I used to know every part of you
during every part
of every day.
You brought me breakfast in bed
every morning
for almost thirty years.
We had morning coffees,
afternoon walks
and evening talks.
Every night
we slept together
in the same bed.
These days someone else
soaps your shoulders;
traces the line of your spine.
I don’t see you having breakfast;
only occasionally
feed you lunch.
We don’t eat tea together
and I never lie beside you
in your single bed.
But for an hour or two every afternoon
I remember you
and you remember me.
Titled
Nigel Ford
They brought bits of the old country with them
the titles of gentlemen and gentlewomen
bestowed by people with titles of Kings and Queens.
They gave themselves titles of deeds over land
allotted by those titled gentlemen and gentlewomen
in the name of their Kings and Queens.
They introduced government by Westminster system
created a force to police the new laws of men
and enforced those laws by the use of force.
They denied the traditional owners of occupancy
wrote them out of relevancy in their history books
claimed terra nullius meant they could claim a continent.
They transported the dregs of their decaying society
built settlements on the most productive land
pushed the local people out of the way of progress.
They brought bits of their old country to the new
that sense of entitlement based on the pigmentation of skin
and the arrogance of racists to claim racism wasn’t a sin.
They took and stole and killed and controlled
in the name of the law in an undeclared war
and kept better records of livestock than black lives lost.
They brought bits of the old country with them
but it wasn’t all good
it wasn’t at all good.