20 april 2007

Iain Sinclair on the Olympics:

. . . a pale wood fence, Rainham’s Great Wall of China: it stretches for mile after mile. The purpose of this new landscape feature is obvious: it masks blight. Smouldering landfill, discontinued industry, carcinogenic paddocks are hidden from the eyes of the Olympic commissioners. That’s why the train is so smart, roomy, air-conditioned and unreal. It’s part of the pitch, the ruinously expensive and doomed 2012 bid. Doomed to be successful, condemning us to years of puff and spin as we creep towards the Great Project. Bleak times for those who are cheerfully off-message.

| comment

21 april 2007

Minotaur

It’s no problem,
Finding your way
To where the minotaur
Lives in hiding.

One turn,
Then another –
You are there in no time,
Ready for combat.

It’s not even
Difficult to kill him.
He cannot survive
Your sharpened gaze.

The trick is
To find a way back,
Step by step,
Through the sweaty darkness.

You pray:
‘Thread, do not break,’
But still it slips
From your numb fingers.

It’s a bull’s head now
Upon your shoulders.

- Edward Lucie-Smith

| comment