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17 March 2021

The NS Poem: Ties

A new poem by Blake Morrison. 

By Blake Morrison

They flop from a hanger in the wardrobe
like pelts on a moorland wall.

The blue with red elephants,
the kipper I got married in,

the grey with Chinese characters
I thought spelled Confucius not Coke.

And my Dad’s – plain, floral, dotted, striped –
including the black I wore to his funeral.

Redundant as frockcoats
or monogrammed hankies

they hang there, limp and uncollared,
fat fox tongues lolling in the dark.

Blake Morrison is a poet and author, and a professor of creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. His most recent book is the novel “The Executor” (Chatto & Windus)

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This article appears in the 17 Mar 2021 issue of the New Statesman, The system cannot hold