Poetry

By

Trevor Maynard

Googled It

Alone, and together

Slouching on the couch

Passive aggressive in very bone

The narrative of freedom is dictated

Sought from the ashes

From the ever climbing detritus

The free-flowing faeces

The distended bellies of the children

In utero human immunodeficiency virus

The machete cleansed

A whole school of girls murdered

A refugee of eight months drowned

Guns on campus after campus

Sought from the ashes

Alone, and together

Passive aggressive to every bone

The Human Story

Error 404, page not found

Paris

The counter is highly polished

Electric and sun light, dapple

Une bière pression

Is placed on a coaster

To my opinion

The head on the beer is too deep

To le barman it is courant

We disagree, our conversation is animated

He says I am fou, and I say he is a filou

Then the silence

On the television, the footballers of England and France

Heads bowed, black arm bands on their left arms, remember

There is no longer a shard of glass

Or a crumble of concrete on

The gleaming, perfect counter

But le barman cleans it all the same

Where I have sipped the froth of my beer

He takes it to the pression and tops up

It is a noble gesture, generous of spirit

For two men either side of the truth

Trevor Maynard

Poet, playwright and editor, Trevor Maynard, read Drama at Royal Holloway College before writing ten plays for the London stage, including FROM PILLOW TO POST (1991) which counterpointed the progress of the UN resolutions leading up to the first gulf war with lives of ordinary people caught up in global conflict. His first collection of poetry, LOVE, DEATH, AND THE WAR ON TERROR was published in 2009, heavily influenced by the events of 9/11, which fell on his 38th birthday. His second, KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON (2012), ran a deep vein of social conscience and depression, while his latest DARK SUN, GREY MOON (2015) hovers in the shadows of melancholy, occasionally rising to joy, often falling to darkness; it is an intimate study of the human condition. Trevor is the editor of the annual international anthology THE POETIC BOND, published in paperback, and now in its fifth year. He is also the manager of “Poetry, Review and Discuss” a professional poetry networking group on LinkedIN with nearly 5,000 members.  His previous work has been reviewed as follows “Trevor Maynard combines complicated thematic material and unites fractured images with a sure hand” (The Stage).