NATIONAL POETRY DAY 2017

It hardly seems a year since I was commissioned by the BBC to write for National Poetry Day 2016.
The result was the poem, Stone Witness (La Gran'mere du Chimquiere) which, shortly thereafter, formed the nucleus of a poetry collection built around that iconic subject.
This year's National Poetry Day is today, Thursday 28 September 2017.  
The theme is “Freedom”.

FREEDOM

Locate the lock, insert a key
then turn it. Suddenly you’re free.
Step into light. Inhale fresh air.
Allow a breeze to lift your hair.
Glance round, observe: this is the world
spread out before you, bright, unfurled.
Did you imagine, when in chains,
the subject of endless campaigns,
how flowers explode in yellows, pinks,
how every living creature links
one to the other, how the sky
astonishes the human eye,
how birds fly free unknowingly,
how, when you were a detainee,
you watched, through bars, bright swallows glide,
the air their element? You cried
because your prison world was square
while they had freedom of the air.
Do you recall the shape of trees,
the scent of woodsmoke on a breeze,
the zig-zag of a butterfly,
the glamour of an orchid’s eye,
and how the sea, never asleep, 
is almost endless, cold and deep?
These things existed, richly real
while you endured your long ordeal.
Embrace them now, rejoice and be
a human being, blessed, free.


This poem is dedicated to Fred Williamson 1941- 2017.
 

National Poetry Day is annually celebrated and aims to inspire people to enjoy, discover and share poems. It was founded in 1994 by the charity, Forward Arts Foundation, whose mission is to celebrate excellence in poetry and increase its audience. The Day enjoys the support of the BBC, Arts Council England, the Royal Mail and leading literary and cultural organisations, as well as booksellers, publishers, libraries and schools.