BACKSTAGE
I miss
my bonfire nights
Guy Fawkes
V for Vendetta
think I must be
a backstage ghost
martyred for my art
my belongings
my papers
all being
diced over
that every dissident of note
be hung and drawn,
thereafter quartered
taken by the State
to be
their God-
given right
and me imagining
the soft impact of
William Blake finding
his way
into Parliament
talking innocence and
experience
in his maiden speeches
subverted the empty
discourse of contract
and divime royal right.