Two Poems

Patric Cunnane/Uddipana Goswami

PATRIC CUNNANE
Solzhenitsyn in Scotland
Walking in the rain
Reminded him he was free
Walking now was freedom
Rain now was freedom
Then,
Walking meant
Walking to labour
Getting wet was life threatening
No coat to shield malnourished skin
Only a righteous anger stoking a will to survive
Walking in the rain of Scotland
Not everyone’s idea of a holiday
Some prefer sun-kissed beaches
A walk amongst the dripping heather
Removes one more brick from
An enclosure round the heart
Alexander Solzhenitsyn died 3 August 2008

UDDIPANA GOSWAMI
Would I be a poet still?
Your vocabulary is no longer mine.
My language you may not know.
But would you call me a poet still
If I did not write the words you spoke?
Would I be a poet still
If I wrote instead the cacophony
Of insurgent cross-fires
And false encounters, secret killings?
Will you consider it poetry
If it were splashed with mud from military boots
Mixed with the blood of revolutionaries and mercenaries
And political touts and merchants of ideology?
They were dreamers who thought poetry
Was about nation, revolution, freedom.
They were dreaming in their sleep
Their dreams died as they slept.
Poetry became a casualty of armed skirmishes.

PATRIC CUNNANE performs poetry at readings, cabarets and festivals. His latest collection is Baltimore He began writing stories four years ago and is a founder member of Porcupine writers’ group which holds monthly meetings to discuss members’ new stories.
          Poems have appeared in many publications including The Guardian and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Two poems appeared in Velocity - the Best of Apples and Snakes, selected by The Independentas among the year’s 10 best poetry collections. Patric also MCs for Apples & Snakes shows.
He organises regular readings to promote new and established poets through his poetry organisation, Dodo Modern Poets. DMP has performed at the Edinburgh Festival, the St Ives Literature Festival, the Hastings Festival and many others including a number of Dylan Thomas inspired nights in Laugharne, South Wales. A regular DMP evening takes place at the Poetry Society in Covent Garden. (For details go to www.poetrysociety.org.uk) In October 2007 the group presented a gala evening at New Wimbledon Studio Theatre as part of the first Wimbledon Bookfest. The evening was successful and they returned to the Bookfest at the same venue in October 2008, playing to another packed house.
         Patric ran a workshop on performance poetry in the New Forest. He has worked with elderly groups in day care centres in the London Borough of Merton and with schools in the same borough as part of the Big Arts project for several years running. He ran a poetry workshop for Merton’s arts festival for adults with learning difficulties.
        He supplements his arts income from regular work as a journalist. He lives in Colliers Wood, South London.
UDDIPANA GOSWAMI is from Assam in Northeast India, a region of rich indigenous cultures but also of insurgency, ethnic conflicts and consequent militarization, all of which informs her writings. She is Assamese literature editor of Muse India, a literary e-journal. Her creative works have been published in the journals Etchings (Australia), Chandrabhaga (India), Muse India (India), The Other Voices International Project (online), XCP Streetnotes (online). Her poetry has also appeared in Tonight: An Anthology of World Love Poetry (South Africa). When not writing poetry, Uddipana is a media consultant, researcher and translator. For more: www.jajabori-mon.blogspot.com.