Tuesday 28 February 2012

Poem: 'A Kind Of Achievement'


A KIND OF
ACHIEVEMENT


He
always
seemed to
attract attention.
Started on a small scale.
two inches of local newspaper
column depth. A story headed
‘VANDALS FINED’, his
age (15) parenthesised
after his name.

Didn’t stop there though.
Soon after he was a face in
that sullen crowd on the regional
TV report, stood slightly bewildered
behind the Spokesperson urging
Govt subsidy for industrially
depressed areas.

Three years later
he died in Iraq,
half-tone blood on
half-tone uniform,
made the front page
of the nationals,
lead story in
one of them.

Made his
Mother
almost
proud





Published in:-
‘MOTH no.2’ (UK - Dec 1976)
‘IMPACT vol.1 no.4’ (USA - Nov 1978)
‘IT - INTERNATIONAL TIMES vol.5 no.5’ (UK - Jan 1980)
‘SLOWDIVE no.2’ (UK - July 1985)
‘LUCKY JIM’S no.4’ (USA - Dec 1985)
and the anthology:-
‘WRITERS AGAINST VICTORIAN VALUES:
LET THEM EAT CAKE (Sepia Anthology)’ (UK - Oct 1986)
‘A REASON FOR STAYING / THIS IS THE END: POEMS BY STEVE SNEYD & ANDREW DARLINGTON Silver Gull Publications (UK - April 1999)

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