Death of a Newquay Fly

I thought I saw Luke Skywalker
check into our beach hotel for a winter break.
Older now, but still with poise and assurance,
he strides through the automatic doors,
wheeling a squeaky travel case in his wake.

At the reception,
he dashes off his signature with a flourish
as if to please the concierge,
then turns gracefully towards the lift,
swishing behind him his coco-powder cape.

And I thought I saw him out on the bluffs
next morning early,
muttering incantations under his breath.
Who set fire to the natural log? What is East Grinstead?
Why is the sun?
The cold rain drizzles, but his cape is good for all weathers.
In the bay, a shark is doing backstroke, pretending
to be a surfboard.
The sparrow-hawk stuck on the air current above one shoulder
is Luke’s mind:
it's just one more Jedi party trick.

His girl, who is too young for him,
is dressed in a silky lilac two piece
and she wears pristine lilac boots.
At nights they sing like crickets on the dancefloor.
The disco ball accentuates her lilac highlights
and her roots.

A passing buzzing fly
he sizzles with a flick of his light sabre—
death caught it unexpected,
though no one could see the stunned expression
in its rainbow eyes,
and it seems like overkill.
Outside in the Newquay twilight, Sainsbury’s is ablaze,
the holy city burning on the hill.

October 10th 2020

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ukraine: The politics of institutional reform: Zelenskyi’s “de-oligarchisation” drive, Dec 2021

The president's “de-oligarchisation” drive addresses issues vital for Ukraine’s development, but is unlikely to produce lasting change (December 2021, for the EIU) The president’s claim that a Russian-linked coup is being organised against him may be part of a wider domestic political struggle set off by his “de-oligarchisation” drive.  De-oligarchisation addresses the key developmental issue facing Ukraine. This is that, by restricting political and economic competition, the collusive, behind-the-scenes politics of Ukrainian elites has acted as a fetter on economic growth, helping to explain the country’s low living standards. Concerns have been raised that the policy could be applied selectively to damage the president’s political rivals.  The measures may be too limited to produce lasting change. Moreover, Zelenskyi appears to lack both the resources and the durable domestic political alliances that would be required to affect a long-term transformation of national governan...
Read more

Falling between two stools

A review of Marko Bojcun’s Towards a Political Economy of Ukraine: Selected Essays, 1990-2015; Ukrainian Voices, vol 3; Ibidem-Press, Stuttgart. A. The history of post-Soviet Ukraine could be written as that of a succession of self-serving political leaderships, and of inspiring but failed popular protests, resulting in chronic economic underperformance that has left the country’s dwindling population among the poorest in Europe. A glance at IMF data, for example, shows the country vying for bottom place in the European income rankings with Moldova. In these essays, written close on the events they analyse, Marko Bojcun reminds us that this need not have been the case, and that other trajectories at times seemed possible. One example is to be found in an article from 2001, in which the prospect of Russia’s European integration is still in the air, just about, whereas from the vantage point of today, this is almost unthinkable. B. The collection covers key waypoints in the politic...
Read more

Ukraine: EU begins to disburse next tranche of financial assistance, Oct 2022

In late September, EU bodies approved an additional €5bn in macro-financial assistance (MFA) to Ukraine, and in early October, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced that the first payment, of €2bn, would be made shortly, with the rest to follow by the end of 2022. This is the second instalment of a €9bn package first announced in May, and follows the delivery of €1bn in early August. It is designed to address the substantial budgetary shortfalls facing the Ukrainian government linked to the ongoing war with Russia, which has closed off access to capital markets, but led also to agreements with creditors for delays in debt repayments. The latest EU funding comes in the form of “highly concessionary” long-term loans—that is, at a low interest rate, but still adding to the stock of public debt. The form of the final €3bn of the facility—whether it will be offered as a loan or a grant—has yet to be decided among the 27 EU member states. As the EU Commiss...
Read more