The ashes of England

Imports of ash trees to be banned - but is it too late?

The Telegraph, 25 October 2012

Our native ash stands vigilant,

within its moat of deadened earth

its demi-shadow seeps like damp,

as dappled and long over moor

as when spilled into forest glade;

and while English children

gather up acorns and conkers

and gardeners cotyledons

from regal oaks, horse chestnuts,

sycamores, strong men succumb

beneath the ubiquitous ash without

ever knowing its common name,

and are buried in coffins of elm

cut long before gatecrashers razed

English elm to a state of fine ash.

(c) 2012 Slush Poet

St George in his time and place

Give England its own anthem, demand MPs

The Daily Mail, 23 April 2012

I'm on Rocky Hill, deep in my Kentish past,

distinctly England, the World. How strange

to have arrived at Maidstone West

and not the other station. Progress of a kind,

but in this drizzle the approach resembles

some images of childhood scratched in a slate.

Not a single taxi in sight. So it's collar up,

shoulders hunched, trudge up here to take

the higher ground, regroup, reappraise.

And there stands George on his marble dais,

a seagull perched on the visor of his helmet

(bladder-shaped and streaked with shit),

and Wales subdued at the point of his lance.

Some wit has daubed EDL on his plinth.

And isn't St George to blame for the rage

an Englishman feels when he looks in the back

of his passport? He could have dug a moat.

Or slayed the dragon when he had the chance.

(c) 2012 Slush Poet