Poems

Anne Frank Huis

by Andrew Motion

Even now, after twice her lifetime of grief
and anger in the very place, whoever comes
to climb these narrow stairs, discovers how
the bookcase slides aside, then walks through
shadow...

The Twang

by Simon Armitage

The Twang

Well it was St George's Day in New York.
They'd dyed the Hudson with cochineal and chalk.
Bulldogs were arse-to-mouth in Central Park.
Mid-town, balloons drifted up, red and white...

The Shout

by Simon Armitage

The Shout

We went out
into the school yard together, me and the boy
whose name and face

I don't remember. We were testing the range
of the human voice:
he had to shout for all he...

Crossing at Miravet

by Jane Duran

Crossing at Miravet, 1938

The houses rise up before me unexpectedly.
I can finally see the valley

and the strenuous glimmer that is the Ebro.
A ferry under the poplars, no ferryman.
...

Spanish Civil War

by Jane Duran

Spanish Civil War

I can scarcely imagine it happened -
where it would be - the places of it.
Quiet places I visit now - torn up grass,
headed-off mist, depositions
of rose, vine, earth....