Monday, 8 July 2019

Thursday, 23 June 2016 - a poem by Chris Zachariou

):  Van Gogh’s “Prisoners Exercising” shows a grim prison courtyard, with inmates circling endlessly under the watch of a guard.
Prisoners Exercising, by Van Gogh

The dismal spectre of a dying stanza
gasps between the black and white keys
of a crumbling, tuneless piano.

Cigarette burns and brown stains
scar its tired wooden top—  tarnished
medals from recent wars and skirmishes.