*These first two poems were written in response to the war in Ukraine and first published on Twitter. They will appear in a new volume of poetry in September* The last poem is from Peter’s book ‘Louder Prayers’
The Poor Pariah
Where will the world go now without Russia – without its complex weave of power and monstrosity? Where will the world move to sit apart from these endless instalments of misread glory; from beyond this confusion of the rebirth of empire. The philosophical conversation of war and peace still burns in the anxiety of the Russian hearth – with the crime and punishment of jealous blood, where the vanity of conquerers justifies death. We will need a place where their guns are silent now we have found our own guns wanting or misplaced. We will disguise our weakness with sanctions and aid, while firing sterile criticism at logistical targets – wounding ourselves with the backlash of expectation; falling for the politics of jingoistic representation. Mediocrity has been embraced by the crumbling West and nursed to a position of fragile health. We will conduct a proxy war of pompous psychology, passing forth munitions from an imagined safety – while always underestimating the crude march of ambition and the patriotic fervour in the idiot soul. And Death Shall Have No Opinion? If I wear your flag on my lapel will it help you win the futility of war? Or will you be displaced by reckless courage – buried beneath the illusion you were fighting for. My badge of promises may not be secure; it may lead you up a deadly path – where the earth is scorched and the trees grotesque and we all play dead in the aftermath. Peace A skein of geese crossed my path; high in my window and heading north. I was on a treadmill – ebbing into the future; moving like a time machine – moving like a V shape. Peace. A Fevers of the Mind Quick-9 Interview with Peter Hague 3 Re-published poems from Peter Hague
Fevers of the Mind 