Many years ago I studied the poem, ‘Icarus Allsorts’ by Roger McGough, as part of the war poems series my year group had to learn for a ‘major’ exam. I learned it by heart at the time. I think his poem is as valid today as it ever was although, back then, the preoccupation with impending nuclear war felt like a creepy necessity; a scary dystopia we more than imagined we had every chance of being part of sooner rather than later.
The last song, alphabetically, on my I-pod play list, as requested by Twindaddy, made me recollect this poem. It is ’99 Red Balloons’ by Goldfinger.
It floats now,
alone,
though one among many,
aspirationally buoyed
beyond the rest,
elevated,
tethered in hearts,
in words,
multi-threaded bytes
reaching
faster, higher, stronger.
Olympian endurance,
against
the machine.
scottishmomus 