Trawling the Archives
These retrievals Trying to understand the trajectory that took you from voice of conscience to hedge fund. A breach. Design or default. The fault is always mine / as I chase you through the archives. Remorseful. I need to trawl through all the myriad missed signs and signals. The scapegoating / or misplaced blame. Gifts / blessings / misunderstood / by the authorities. Ticked different boxes. Gateway or blockage. The old newsletter / might as well be in Latin & best left alone. (Question of survival) One (the) remove. Remote now. But force myself to read it. Ancient, alien discourse.
The Dormitory / The Dickens
By some law or decree boarding school dormitories had to be uncurtained. And then the snoring, grunting, shouting. (‘For his country, sir’), What the…? Certain minor indignities – a meeting of the Clothing Committee had been convened – who knew they even existed? What then embargoed? The legacy; of curtains closed / to the car park or churchyard in daytime. Tented intimacy once – mis-spent youth. My parents doing the spending – but I paid also. From a different, richer, argot, the blues three different ways. (Plus – they profess to love Dickens – but have they read him?)
Stephen Middleton