Rosalind Daniels

Rosalind Daniels Poems

The Best Poem Of Rosalind Daniels

An Election Speech

Citizens!

Lend me your oven gloves, for, although these hands do not blister easily, I
have to bake a cake in a furnace hotter than
aviation fuel.
Throw me your buckets, citizens, that I may begin to construct a well large enough to
satisfy this country's thirst.
Roll a bottle of glue along the floor to me, which I
shall swallow to ensure all of us that my convictions will not move.
Hand me your used bus tickets, citizens, so I can turn them to wine and cranberry juice, and
sell me your ice cube tray, and I will repay you with burning magic beans.

Citizens!

If you try to tie me into knots to see how twisted I can get,
you will be disappointed to find that I
remain as straight as an air hostess' arm.
When you, inevitably, hook gym equipment to my ankles, you
will see that I find iron surprisingly buoyant.
There are those of you who will try to burn me with semantics;
and for you I have a handkerchief
and a small shake of the head.
There are those of you who will try to make a martyr of me, who will try to crucify me
with kisses;
and for you I have a handkerchief
and half of a small smile.

Citizens!

I ask not for your ears; nor for
your bravery: which is for children's books and
for escapists.
I want not your unquestioning endorsement;
nor your life: which is unfinished but still whole.
Give me not the work of last year and
put not all of your faith in me; but remember
that though my face may change, I am
internally PVAed.

I call you neither friends nor Romans nor even countrymen, but
Citizens!

Keep your empty nail varnish bottles for me, and
when your books reach autumnal old age and their leaves shower outwards, collect
the fallen pages, roll them up tightly,
put them in the bottles and put those bottles
into a tin.
Keep tired and broken pegs in a tin for me.
Keep
verb conjugations in a tin for me.
Turn your umbrella to a boat when the floods come: take a photograph
and put that photograph into a tin for me; write
your poetry on the walls for me so I can
see it, and

Citizens!

Lend me your oven gloves.

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