21ST-CENTURY POETRY Poem for a time not long in coming by Simon Duff

Across metropolis's iron bridges
armed autonomy forces gather
through corridors of tower blocks
between the stars
night mist swirls through
cursed streets with neon hangs
shivering amongst the glaring
ghost tragedies of sodium
enhancing the rushing shades of headlights

beyond concrete
flak jacketed men solicit death on
highways of blazing
barricaded treachery
euphoric innocence of uninformed magistrates

proletarian soldiers are massing in side streets
wonderful, jostling ecstasy of strangers
a thousand years of oppression
and in the deserted home of a secret policeman
a mobile phone is ringing... ringing...

Writer, critic, poet and composer Simon Duff is based in London and regularly broadcasts experimental political sound art on Resonance FM. 21st-century Poetry is edited by Andy Croft, email [email protected]

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21ST-CENTURY POETRY Poem for a time not long in coming by Simon Duff

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The new first minister must address the concerns of workers

Jobcentre security guards to launch 24-hour strike over pay

Woman whose cancer was missed twice calls for Anne's Rule

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