It is not that you are not happy at home,

dinner is ready on the table at the right time,

the food you like: salmon, caprese and saffron risotto,

Jaffa cakes and sfogliatelle are always there for snacks.

I make ice cream and pizza at weekends,

abundant portions, free service,

the Italian way.

But you need more space, your space,

friends not just family,

cook your ow...

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For Francesco

I hope your road is a good one

full of unexpected discoveries,

paths you’re exploring for the first time

where dragons and kind elves mix.

You enter a new environment

a school where you will teach maths

to disadvantaged children, KS 3 and 4,

where you will meet the unlucky ones

who will never access Oxford as you did,

who maybe are not as talented a...

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I keep pink fake flowers on my kitchen window sill,

they look real if you don’t turn the light on.

They’re bright with silky petals

a plastic centre

of a never-ending summer.

They stand out against silver weather

and brick walls,

a glow against mist

I cherish in gloom.

I don’t need to water them

they remain fresh on the coldest days,

will fade in tim...

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Not feathered as a bird’s wings are, bat-like

and leatherly, each fanned away the air,

so three unchanging winds moved out from him.

Cocytus being frozen hard by these.

Dante, Inferno, 34, v. 49-52

A storm from the centre of the earth

produced by Lucifer’s double wings

flapping restlessly,

everlasting machinery

freezing the lake of Cocytus

where we lie shameless

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