Letter to Chopin
Oliver James Lomax

I am sorry that you have been placed here,
Chopin
just right of the Rising Sun.

I am sorry that they have placed you
before the modern boulevards of Spinningfields
after you committed to play, although sick,
to twelve hundred Mancunians.

I am sorry for our corporate youth
who wipe the frappuccino from their top lip
complaining of Polish immigration
who will later retweet anything, so they feel alive.

I am sorry for the lunchtime menu,
all of the spatchcock chickens
crucified by a fashion,
backs broad, facing heaven.

I am sorry for the ten thousand redundant sewing machines
in the windows of All Saints,
each one the story of a woman’s life,
ripping yarns.

I am sorry for these modern crimes.
I shall have a whip-round between the like-minded
to raise money and weld a bronze tear
below your left eye.

I am sorry Chopin,
that is all I can do.
They are so powerful now.

Oliver James Lomax is an artist, poet and lyricist from Bolton. He has exhibited across Europe and the UK, reading at various galleries and poetry events. Last year he contributed his poem England’s New Trinity of Love to the Morning Star’s protest record We Are All In This Together.