Brian Docherty

St. Leonards,

 

Brian Docherty is the Beach Bard of St. Leonards. He has published six books,  most recently Only in St. Leonards: A Year on the Marina (Special Sorts Press, 2017). 

Two Poems - Roots  - The Real Work

 

Completed on 16 April 2020.

 

ROOTS

 

To be rooted, to have roots,

to be part of an eco-system,

to be supported and support others,

to enjoy a sense of wellbeing,

to know there are healthy strands

to our lives, even when the wind

threatens to uproot us and convert

us to firewood or found sculpture,

 

it’s all good, how we go on,

solo or together, to come together

in fellowship, to listen to each

other, to eat together, to raise

a glass, to dance together,

because we are one body

and one being, to go our

separate ways, knowing

 

we will meet again, and be

good to each other again,

people of bad faith can never

take that away from us, because

our roots are deep, our roots

are strong, we are a forest,

we are a garden, a prairie,

self-seeding, self-perpetuating.

 

28th April 2020

THE REAL WORK

 

I come back to William Morris’ mantra

that everything has to be beautiful and

useful; there is no need for ugly things

in the world, surely it must be harder

to make something ugly, then expect

anyone to buy or use it, and whoever

can perpetrate such a thing is not

a person I want anything to do with,

and now Morris’ distinction between

useful work and useless toil rings truer

than ever, and I want to go to Venice

and see those dolphins in the canals,

but maybe seeing them on TV is enough,

David Attenborough or Simon Reeves

will do our travelling for us, Michael

O’Leary will have to get a proper job,

and make the right sort of difference

in the world, and politicians will have to

do some real work, and get their hands

dirty in the right way, or self-isolate

in silence, and we can see if they have

anything to contribute, starting with

simple, modern laws, and making

the Welfare system behave properly,

but that might be beyond them,

most of them are neither beautiful

nor useful, and yes, I know there

are exceptions, all too few, but we

wouldn’t want to take beautiful and

useful people away from their work.