New Poem by Philip Hancock

Eyewear is very glad to welcome Philip Hancock's new poem this sunny September Tuesday. His poems have appeared in journals including: Magma, Nthposition, Oxford Magazine, Poetry London, The North, The Rialto, and The Spectator. Hancock's debut pamphlet Hearing Ourselves Think was published by Smiths Knoll (2009). A selection of his work will appear in Carcanet’s forthcoming OxfordPoets 2010.

Demolition of the Power Station

Coming back up the A34, counting

how many pylons. The cooling towers

where the white clouds are made, always there.

A black-tipped chimney, zigzag ironwork,

slanted conveyors. Squat transformers

fenced in. Flashing NCB lorries,

white-hatted Dinky men.

Dynamite day: crowds stand behind barriers.

Their mouths come open, thick dust

boils up and up, and through the clearing

for the first time what lies beyond:

the backs of houses, light green fields,

horses easing up, a line of poplars.

Now the open curve of the new road,

the billboards for retail and office spaces,
families strolling by lakeside apartments,

but the sky’s a blankness, nothing but weather.

poem by Philip Hancock

Comments

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