March | Poem

March
         When old and woody growth requires hard pruning fostering fresh buds
         And younger branches start appealing to the sun and other foreign gods
March
         When the sap is rising and young bloods are driving forth
         And the hare scuds round the field and the scuds hare north
March
         When cool winds whistle and garden fences are blown down
         And hot winds bristle and guard defences are mown down
March
         When the liberation of a nation becomes, for some, demeaning
         And a Bushwhacking takes on a Saddam-mad-ass meaning
March
         When feasting of Shrove Tuesday leads to fasting of Ash Wednesday's Ramadan
         And single pictures of a million replace a million pictures of a single man
March
         When the blare of the headlines is the headline of Blair's...
         And sowing and drilling are not of seeds but bombs and the soldiers'...
March
         When winter-frozen peas give way to fresh and frozen peace to fresh-picked hell
         And fractured families gather fractured remnants of those who 'fell'
March
         When the dusty desert gives up old secrets and takes on new
         And old tyrannical dictators now consider their place in the queue
March
         When this year's virgin growth fights for life in sandblast-barren dirt
         And yesterday's hair shirt becomes tomorrow's shared hurt.
March
- Alex Barzdo
Mini-autobio:
I was born in Congleton, Cheshire, in the northern midlands of England, to
an English mother and a Polish father.
My writings have been mostly poetry, having been awakened to it in early
years by the joy of those such as AA Milne and RL Stevenson. Discovering
the humour of Ogden Nash, Spike Milligan and Roger McGough and performing in
Gilbert & Sullivan unlocked treasures and in the sixties led to darker areas
of Sylvia Plath, anger of John Cooper Clarke and cultural diversion towards
such as Benjamin Zephaniah - such a rich variety.
First published in an anthology in the seventies, I joined the Mensa poetry
group and for several years was published in their monthly magazine, Lyriq.
A contributor to the poetry.com organisation and in three of the
International Library of Poets' anthology publications, I have also
performed my work at venues in and around Birmingham (England's second
city). My own website is currently reached at http://clix.to/albarz
I attend the Poetry Wednesbury group and am a member of The Poetry Society
(based in London). I continue to write and perform poetry when the
opportunity arises in Birmingham and the Black Country area - Wyatt Earp's
dad came from just down the road!

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