We are the future
down dark, down deep,
we hold the keys to better times,
fragmented tears, shattered with kisses.
We walk through flattened streets,
dreary dark Victorian alleyways and byways
bleak, ashen and torn,
the underclass, the unseen, the forgotten,
amongst the dreary endless black rain,
darkening shadows growing wings —
but we never fly, head down, weary
drudgery darkened air, the many.
Always in the shadows, always in the shade,
of the flying city far above the clouds,
resplendent and dazzling with all the future has to offer,
they hold the riches of the world,
drowning in the best of things
in strange sophisticated Sardoodledom,
procreate endlessly, keep the world turning
in decadent dreams for the few.
Maybe it has always been this way?
Above are Snow-People, we are Snow-Bones,
got to survive, find a way, to reach Neon.
Head down against the stinging contaminated air,
wish I could remember blue skies, sunshine,
wish I could remember lucky times before
it all changed, before it all melted, like blackened snow.
But memories are dangerous, restricted.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Dangerous dark city, light barely touches us
through transcendent fog, smog and steam,
only neon signs cut through, advertising for eyes
so jaundiced we’d believe anything now.
Treasure what you hold, another day above ground
is a miraculous thing, life and death
are cheap here, be wary, be aware, always.
Fragmented tears, shattered with kisses
we hold the keys to better times
deep down, down dark
we are the future, pulsing.
Peter Devonald is winner Heart Of Heatons Poetry Award 2023 and 2021, joint winner FofHCS Poetry Award 2023, winner Waltham Forest Poetry Competition 2022. Nominated for Forward Prize: Best Single Poem, two Best Of The Net nominations 2024 and shortlisted Saveas Writer’s International Writing Competition – All In the Mind 2023 and Allingham Festival Poetry Competition 2023.
Poet in residence at Haus-a-rest and published extensively including London Grip, Artists Responding To…, Forget-Me-Not Press and Poetic Map Of Reading & Music. Screenwriter winner of 50+ film awards, former senior judge/ mentor Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys) and Children’s Bafta nominated.
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