Kipling

I went to a boarding school

All the talk was of David Copperfield 

And Oliver Twist

Mine was a school for the sons of ministers.

Got restless, ran away three or four times

Stationmaster at Wakefield got used to me

Turning up, tears coursing

Down my cheeks.

Standards and Ethos

The cane in the corner, leaning against the wall

Think of Kipling's If and that old English idea

Of civilising the Empire.

The school wasn't the worst, but you weren't allowed

To look one another in the eye.

Holding you in eye contact like this, I consider

Myself your equal. This is a crime.

"Lower your eyes down. Don't look at me, boy!"

Chris Hawes

Bakewell 

15 October 2015

From the arthur+martha project Stitching the Wars. A Two year collaboration with older people in Derbyshire, producing two embroidered quilts, a book, interviews and a series of poems. 

More poems found here. A short documentary film about the project found here.