By Dominic Fox

We – poets –
are feckless creatures.
The perfections of scripture
are not in our line –

I say scripture: recitation,
perfection of recitation, the voice aligned
at once with its deepest impulse, everything
coming out right –

We stammer our verdictives, on which force
pivots, may lose its balance. I’m not sure
that’s what you need to hear.
I would be with you

somehow, if in profession only.
It is one thing to be the fool
we all are, another to be taken
for an asset. Oh Talha, by the mercy

of whatever God, come through in safety;
by men’s mercy, though it cannot be
depended on, be plucked out from the eye
of tyranny; be back amongst us soon.

Please visit freetalha.org to find out how you can help.

Dominic Fox is a writer, poet and musician working in London. He has published a work of philosophy, 'Cold World: The aesthetics of dejection and the politics of militant dysphoria' (Zero Books, 2009) and a collection of poetry, 'Half Cocks' (Intercapillary Editions, 2011). He performs and records shoegazing folk-rock as "w/trem", and blackened experimental metal as "Spiral Jacobs" (an album 'Haintology' is available).