Will you bang your head on my wall?

Will you bang your head on my wall?

(in the Rothko Room, Tate Modern, London, January 2016)

Come into my prison,

come

be my guest,

feel what I know.

Spend time in my darkness

among the colours of my night,

here in my place of shades,

where doors are blocked,

no light comes in,

and everything fades.

Will you bang your head on my wall,

or will you see your way?

Do you think, or do you only stare?

There are bars on the window

to keep you safe, but does that mean

there must be something out there?

Do you dare to dwell in my space,

make it your own?

Why don’t you come in,

bring the horrors that you face?

Your mind can take you anywhere –

through walls, closed windows and doors,

but do stay right here,

among my soft maroons and dim lights.

This haven I made for us all

is the perfect place for those lonely nights.

Why would you want to break out of here,

what do you think you would find?

Will you bang your head on my wall?

Don't close the doors

Libraries all over the country are under threat of closure, or downscaling.  I was fortunate lately to be asked to read poetry at one of several benefit events for Newport Library in Pembrokeshire, which is being taken over and run by a group of very enthusiastic volunteers in the local community.

This is one of the poems I wrote for the event.
Libraries are not only about books, of course, many in rural areas such as ours are true centres of community.

Don’t close the doors

They are the most important places in town

and all over the country

they are closing them down.

 

All our tomorrows are behind those doors.

When they close them all forever,

they steal the future that is yours.

Each book is a door to a new world

an opening to imagination.

Trip through unexpected passages,

stumble over fresh ideas,

let stories open the gates

                to places

where you can escape into

                other spaces,

to find creative reflections,

a spur to new ideas,

the spark of further visions,

that show us the paths we need

to heal our divisions,

to begin to make things change.

They are the most important places in town

and all over the country

they are closing them down.

All our tomorrows are behind those doors.

When they close them all forever,

they steal the future that is yours.