I would not seek to set up
that which Providence hath destroyed
and laid in the dust,
and I would not build Jericho again.
– Oliver Cromwell
Did not wish to spend winters in England.
Felt too sick to accept. Felt he could do
his work better without it. In protest
at the nomination of The Beatles
for the MBE. Silly. What you get if you
clean the toilets well at King’s Cross;
sort of thing given to civil servants.
Man, I’m a Star Wars fan – empire is bad:
a Ruritanian charade that helps
to prop up the top-heavy monarchy.
It reminds me of how my foremothers
were raped and my forefathers brutalised.
A symbol of slavery and suffering;
British Empire, a brutal, bloody thing.
(Some potential recipients
have rejected one honour
then accepted another
or have initially refused an honour
then accepted it or
have accepted one honour
then declined another
or refused in the hope
of another higher)
Verbatim Poetry 