Friday, March 25, 2016

EUOIA, Easter Bunnies and Philip Larkin: a warning from history

Larkin and Soft Friend
I put it like this:


I might have to leave my European Union
The PM’s negotiating hard with the Poles
Goodbye Roubaud goodbye Kouwenaar back
To a thin slice of parkin and a slim vol by Larkin

I fear for us all as, in this recent poem, I contemplate having to leave the EU(OIA) as a result of a possible foolish withdrawal into Little Englandism with its traditional hangings and workers' rights (as well as its dishes and poets). More on the unreformed European Union Of Imaginary Authors here: Foreign poetry? Yes!

But no Brexit! Bremain! Bremain! As another of my recent poems has it:

They didn't let me swear my oath on the dictionary
not even the one containing the word 'Brexit'.

Brussels in normal times


For more on the EUOIA click on the keyword below and read the previous posts. The project continues. I have just finished working with Phillip Terry on the works of Paul Coppens (Jnr), another Belgian.