It’s a matter of perspective.

It matters where you stand.

A says stoutly she knew the law

but chose to play the dice;

B that she was stupid

but does not deserve to die.

C pleads indifference and does not care;

D speaks of ‘just deserts’;

E deplores the use of drugs

and praises those who kill.

Me, though, what do I think?

I am glad I am not called upon to judge.

From the far, high ground and looking down,

these things may yet be blurred.

The focus shifts, a mist rolls down.

It matters where you stand.

To see her folly and feel her pain

is not to miss the point;

is not to make excuses

but may teach us proper love.

© Abigail Wyatt, 2013

Death sentence passed on British woman

Abigail Wyatt was born in Essex but now lives in Cornwall where she writes poetry and short fiction and tries not to get into too much trouble. She can be found on Facebook and blogs at abigailelizabethwyatt.wordpress.com

Here at Poetry 24 the week didn't start until Tuesday. I am not sure quite what happened there but, generally, it has been that sort of week. Since my new laptop gave up the ghost very early on Monday morning I have been in a state of solemn and desperate mourning. Yes, I know I still have my iPad but it really isn't the same.

For one thing, I have had to rely on Hamish and Michael to keep the poems coming. (Without a laptop the necessary formatting just cannot be done.) For another, the trauma associated with the loss has impacted on my own writing. I have produced one poem and half a short story. It really isn't enough.

Thankfully, our contributors have done rather better. Maeve Heneghan opened on a powerful note with her spare and uncompromising 'Justice and the Beast', a poem which we were pleased to see elicited much comment. Our thanks go to all those who took the time to register their support for justice for women. Regular readers will know that it is a cause close to my heart.

Equally powerful and also much appreciated both by readers and fellow contributors was Philip Johnson's  'eve of holocaust memorial day' with its haunting image of the man 'wearing striped pyjamas'.  In the words of our own  David Subbacchi, it was both 'concise' and 'mysterious'.

Thursday and Friday brought us back to the story with which we started the week and it is clear that there are issues here that resonate for many of our readers. First, Amy Barry communicated to us something of the anguish that must have been felt by Fiona Doyle as, in the wake of her father's trial, she found herself obliged to continue 'Her Life Sentence'. As someone who, in her early teens had taste this kind of 'justice', what I found most powerful about this poem was its commanding physicality, most particularly the poet's representation of an anger too extreme to be expressed: 'Hot blood rages through her veins and 'she wants to thump her fists/ against his chest,/ his face.'

Then, on Friday, Caroline Hurley also had her say reminding us of some of the wider issues: for example, how 'Austerity cuts keep the people lean' and also 'the prisons full'. 'Perversities' also reminds that, even in incarcerated in our prisons, we are far from being 'in it together' as she points a telling finger at the 'fallen fat-cats in their first class cells.'

Saturday, though, struck a different note - and the pun is entirely and unashamedly intended - with Steve Pottinger's  tribute to the courage and generosity of spirit of rock musician Wilko Johnson who has recently received a diagnosis of terminal cancer. 'The day we elected...'  has something to say to us all so I would like to close this week's review by quoting  the WJ's 'simple words': 'I don't wanna be greedy.' Well said, Mr Johnson. It would be a better world if we could all say the same.

Abigail Wyatt

Hello, the week seems to have ended with a lot of snow, I hope it's not affected our readers too much. This week we began with The Season Ends by Amy Barry. It was a very sad and moving poem and quite powerful about a fifteen year old girl who had committed suicide after being tormented in school over sex rumours. It was a complicated story of sadness and cruelty and I'm reminded of the final, short stanza: 'Her body / found hanging / from the maple tree, / in winter.'

Suicide was a recurring theme as another story popped up, this time in the military as combat lessens. Show Me Something I've Seen Before by David Mellor was published on Tuesday. It shows us a kind of torment with being in the military and not fighting, which seems to create a psychological torment and shows someone to wishing to see their normal life, 'Something I've seen before, me and Steve growing up in the candy store.'

Fellow Poetry24 editor, Abigail Wyatt was published on Wednesday with Proper Love. It's a thought-provoking poem about the 56 year old British woman who was sentenced to death in Bali for cocaine smuggling. The poem questions the way we judge and the decisions we make. The ideas of right and wrong and crime and punishment.

Royal Pardon on Thursday, written by Philip Challinor, was a satirical approach to the tabloid stories about Prince Harry. It references the naive and immature actions Prince Harry did in the past and the negative press he gained from it, but then the change in opinion about him, to forgive him, when he joined the army, 'Go to Asia and blow up sufficient wogs.' I suppose this wasn't about Harry and what he's done in his life, but about the silly, fickle tabloid journalists who really only write about their own agendas.

Clare Kirwan returned to Poetry24 on Friday when we published The Moses of Elephants. This was about the baby elephant that died in the BBC show Africa and David Attenborough defended it, saying it was a natural tragedy. The poem is filled with religious imagery and almost sanctifies the elephant in question, showing that the elephant's death was indeed natural and, in a sense, beautiful, and there was never any need to complain about it.

Finally, we published Prisoner at Home by Katie Beviss to end the week. The news story was about Palestinians who threatened to sue Israel over settlements. The poem is very powerful and interesting from the first line: 'The man at no.3 has been taken prisoner.' I particularly liked the use of Hebrew '"מתים המהלכים"' to read 'The Walking Dead.'

Remember to keep submitting to us at poetry24@hotmail.com and tell your friends about us. You can like us on Facebook on our Poetry24 page.

Hope you've all had a good week and have better one to follow.

Michael.

It seems that due to a ghost in the machine no poem has been posted for today so I have decided to use this opportunity to put out a call for submissions.

Come on guys, it is time to shake off that comfortable and euphoric drowsiness brought on by the excesses of the festive season, time to get your backsides in gear and get down to work. If she doesn't have at least half a dozen bright, quirky, powerful submissions before tomorrow tea time then Auntie Abi will be forced to get quite cross. You won't like it, children; indeed, you won't like it at all. :-)

(or The Lament of the Ageing Worker)

We must work on, workers not shirkers,

though we have laboured all our lives;

and now, when our bodies fail us us and pain us,

they make us more trouble than we're worth;

and, because our wits bend, nimble and quick,

to the root and sum of the of the past,

we offend as much by what we know

as the burden of the cost of what we eat.

They say we must stand on our two feet

and not only work but be glad;

we must teach our brittle and aching bones

how work will keep us warm and make us free;

and we must not look for peace and rest

for, in truth, we now outlast our proper use;

and, since, for us, there is no work, though we

may either freeze or sicken, we must die.


© Abigail Wyatt, 2012

And they laughed as they did it
Poorest households hardest hit

Abigail Wyatt was once a teacher but cannot live on her pension. She now works part-time in a cafe, cares for her elderly mother, watches the death throes of western capitalism, and writes whenever she can.