Vincent Berquez: Silence with Peter Porter

Silence with Peter Porter

We met briefly in an Edwardian hall
but I can’t remember which one.
I do remember I recited
and so did you, but you did so
like there was a hush in sound
without the necessary noise
polluting the voice of your words.

London was varnished with rain
and the audience were wet with
guilt at the disappointment
of an unruly climate outside
that pissed all over them.

The stark-birth of your words
were not counted by charismatic bullets,
I thought you a little boring
protected in the flat-jacket
of your reputation, how stupid of me.

I noticed a silence encircling you
and your eyes met mine
and yours couldn’t be acquired
by anything or anyone at any cost.

Vincent Berquez

Vincent Berquez is a London–based artist and poet

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