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Poems
Last month we
carried a
feature about how a book of poetry
titled darkness is where the stars are
by the Welsh poet Patrick Jones created a
censorious outcry from Christian Voice, who
successfully prevented a signing session by
the author at Waterstones bookshop in
Cardiff.
Happily, Borders
bookshop were not intimidated by these book
banners and hosted a signing at two of their
shops (Cardiff and London).
Poems from the book
have also been given a reading recently at
the Welsh Senedd. The two poems below, taken
from the book, are reproduced by kind
permission of Patrick Jones.
the naďvety
a response to gwyn thomas,
national poet for wales
so, an old
fashioned fairytale
directed by a few unimaginative teachers
now
proves the existence of god?
along with
the tooth fairy, zeus, father Christmas and
treebeard
which is fine…
in a story
not as some omnipotent being some great cctv
camera in the dying sky
or a reason to hate others in the name of…
we become one family… you say,
well, only if one believes what you believe
only then can we accept you
into our family…
funny,
then,
how
joseph
had to accept his step son
into his own family,
welcome a stranger into his home
no questions asked
and change his nappies, feed his bones
and wipe his tears
as his real father
the first absent dad
lorded it upstairs
so think of this
next time you staple your sugarlipped ink to
your
laurietised stationery:
your star
is a rocket’s glare
your wise men wage war on each other
each claiming their god does not die
and your stable is a million homeless
shelters across
the world,
thank you for your poem,
it made me think, made me realise,
that i agree
god does not die
because he
was never alive…
sectarian
i believe
you believe what i believe is
wrong,
so you believe that i believe what you
believe is wrong is right,
wrong,
i believe what i believe is right
you believe in wrong
i believe
in something i can’t see
but is,
you believe in something you can’t see
but is not,
we believe in something we both can’t see
but…
i blow you up because you can’t see
the same thing i can’t see but
know that exists,
that makes me good and you evil,
i blow
myself up because i will be saved and be
with the one
i cannot see and in doing so
you will be one less and cease to exist,
you blow me up because you will be saved and
be with the one
you cannot see and in doing so
i will be one less and cease to exist but
you are wrong
because i believe not to believe is wrong
and i shall carry on until there are no
unbelievers left
right?
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If you would like
to buy a copy of Patrick Jones'
book, please click on the image
opposite: |
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