@poet’s corner 7 jan 2026

hi, happy new year everyone.

this isn’t about horses, but it sort of has has a donkey in it, and i think the don himself rode a mule, which is somewhat horse related i think.

i had been writing a lot of poetry in 2024. and in 2025 i started posting it to the internet and reading it in bars. and continued writing. but in a new context – a public poet. i mean, in a limited way. this change made me think of book 2 of cervante’s don quixote. one of the first great works of meta-fiction.

reus brexitus 

brexitus rex, a fencepost; 

no entry for french blokes 

yes hello we are here 

it is act two of don quixote

or quixote like… piss moat

(though i prefer quixotic, 

like chaotic)

anyway 

so far so quixotic

(to rhyme with exotic)

anyway

in which we ask,

will the windmills we recall 

from the first act charge back?

in which we find,

that windmills

don’t charge on poets

this next poem contains one word that is a derivative of horse.

it is about an idea i think about a lot which i call the book at the end of the universe. 

i like to think that, when this whole thing is over, all the players will be invited to inspect the logs and find out what the other characters were thinking, what actually went down, who thought they had got away with cheating, and so on. like, the ultimate compendium of gossip, sleaze, and quiet morality.

the book however raises questions: could it have existed before the universe started? does it already exist? do the players who have already left the game have access to it? or are there superplayers who have access to the book now? and would reading the book change the book?

anyway, this is…

the elucidation

hey. imagine if everyone 

knew everything

not about the physics and philosophy of the universe, 

god and the mystery of life;

but about every dirty thought you have ever had,

and all the gossip since the pharaoh and moses 

smoked camel lights in negotiation 

round behind the pyramid

not just who horsed who, 

but every weird wet dream too

we would be more liberal and better behaved i should think

subterfuge stymied, 

the obfuscated elucidated.

staying almost on theme, i want to do my first repeat, because while it doesn’t contain a horse, it would have if it not for the austerity budgets of david cameron and george osbourne. apologies to anyone who didn’t like this when i read it four weeks ago. also, apologies to anyone who doesn’t like it today.

this is called, 

the hoarse foreman of the apocalypse

life under actually existing capitalism continues; 

a unique combination of boring and stressful

the yoga word lost to an armed counter revolution 

be mindful, namaste, 

despite the flames, be restful

the firewater fades to a numb, dumb dysphoria

as we tag along 

behind the hoarse foreman of the apocalypse 

on foot due to cutbacks

finally. i don’t like to write too much about politics. i have a degree in political philosophy. i used to wish people were more interested in politics. i have been proved wrong.

anyway 

a new leader had been ennobled and he was promising to end wars while at the same time pardoning violent people who were in prison for good, violent reasons. a mockery has been made of the rule of law. corruption is open, bragged about. it’s depressing. 

but there is a horse in this verse.

all the king’s memes

i despair we are so selfish 

in such a self defeating way

meritocratic is not 

what the world is today

it’s a pump and dump town

and there’s new mayor in clown

so double down 

to top trump

they say

all the king’s horses 

and all the king’s memes

couldn’t repair humpty‘s 

defective genes

he pulls fascist faces

and pardons racists

we can only prey

for a ceasefire that sticks