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This poem is taken from PN Review 214, Volume 40 Number 2, November - December 2013.

For Dominic and Roger Crouch Okechukwu Nzelu
It's exhausting. All day long
at the ready, cocked

to make a difference. Four pairs of eyes
pan the horizon for the right chance. Thrill,

colonial, at being poets
at a conference. Lidless teachers

compound to find an end to the rubbish experience. Being
queer at school is something we all know, but these can't do

what I do. I open and open minds, enunciation alight
with only one or two mistakes. Applause.

Of course. Next, a theatre company we're
very lucky to have, has some

short, punchy scenes I'm sure we'll all appreciate.

Let's see, then.
                      Only

their kind of sheer talent
can jinx my hubris so. For these

are the very whorls of fine clarity,
...


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