Michael Wilson

To tea

You're worth the guilt of empire
I'll be the chai wallah
Good for the system and
The best way to take water
I love you
My mug of tea
How did they find you?
Trial and error perhaps
They say anything an ape eats
You can eat
But I should imagine
Despite the PG tips advertisements
Apes can't get a brew on

 

This second poem is about careless words in the media.

A random act of violence

Off my medication
Drunk
Angry
Deluded that the swarm of traffic
Would be allowed by the police
that day to run me over.
Losing it
I jumped in front of a car
Opened the door
And shook the driver
Cautioned for assault
Lucky.
That's as close as I ever came
To the fantasy of
Spraying the town centre
With a Kalashnikov.
I heard on the radio that in Cumbria
A so-called sane man
Carried out the fantasy
Going postal
(U.S. slang for mass murder).
Hysteria
"Psycho killer!"
"Ban guns!"
"No more rifle ranges!"
I was the best shot at school
Boys will be boys
How the West was won.
Insane does not mean violent.
Killers get hold of guns no matter what.

 

Michael suffers because he is schizophrenic. Despite this he has obtained an honours degree, given up smoking, and writes occasional verse. He lives alone in Eastbourne.
'Did you hear the one about the bloke who wore glasses? He took a dim view of things. As I do. Here's a poem about my favourite beverage.'