Authenticity

This poem of mine from October 2000 was a fourth prizewinner in the 2007 Kent & Sussex competition. It appeared in Poetry folio 61, 2007, p. 13.


AUTHENTICITY

The story where she will not wash
because of solidarity
with the poor is a later version.
In that tale’s first appearance she

disdains the use of soap because
only the lower orders get
dirty. The legend will go through
who knows what permutations yet

if poor is clean and filthy rich
becomes all things’ unspoken meaning,
or if, conversely, dirt is good,
and nameless problems spring from cleaning.


And, while I'm at it, here's one from 2006 that was a runner-up in the 2008 rhyming competition from Early Works Press.


ACTS OF RESISTANCE

I will not invent weapons before one in the morning.
I will not go to war before I pray.
I will not mislead the House while sitting down.
And I will tell at least five truths a day.