Poetry 22 May 2018 The NS poem: The Witness A new poem by Will Eaves. Credit: Getty Sign UpGet the New Statesman\'s Morning Call email. Sign-up I would like references for my tenancy to be as bland and noncommittal – “I didn’t know him well. He paid his rent on time and left the property in a fair condition” – even a little surprised by the request, like a small bird turning its head or a late key change where the melodic interest has waned, troubled people caught in the act of calling other people troubled, clerestory windows that project a void movie held in high regard. The great thing is to be clear as a doorway and, only as a doorway can be, empty with utility. A strange cat nudges open the gate and waits before it trots out a signature. Will Eaves’s new novel, Murmur, is published by CB Editions › Should Jeremy Corbyn back a second EU referendum on the final terms of Brexit? This article appears in the 18 May 2018 issue of the New Statesman, Israel and the impossible war