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)