Tag Archive: adrian mitchell


Burial tunes for a broken world

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February 10, 2020

BURIAL – Tunes 2011-2019 (Hyperdub, 2019)
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“The world is falling to pieces, but some of the pieces taste good”. So wrote Adrian Mitchell in his poem ‘Peace Is Milk’, first published in his ‘Out Loud’ collection in 1968.

This remains an accurate statement even though the world is a very different place from half a century ago. Technology and technocracy have made even digital natives long for an analog age they have no direct experience of.

Allied to this is an entrenched pessimism towards the shapes of things to come. By and large, the consensus among Science Fiction writers and filmmakers is that there is little to gain from imagining what the future will be like when the present is already dystopic enough. 1984 has been and gone and the Brave New World is here and now. The plots of Black Mirror are no fiction. As William Gibson, the creator of Neuromancer, noted “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” Continue reading →

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Life itself is miracle enough

Filed under: Poetry — Leave a comment
March 19, 2016
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Mervyn Peake (9th July 1911 – 17rh November 1968)

“The world is falling to pieces but some of the pieces taste good” wrote Adrian Mitchell in Peace Is Milk.

Amid the ceaseless quest for power and control as we seek to quench the thirst of the ego, it is all too easy to forget that we are flesh and blood and overlook the sentiments expressed in another memorable poem about the beauty and fragility of our brief lives:

 

TO LIVE IS MIRACLE ENOUGH by Mervyn Peake 

To live at all is miracle enough.
The doom of nations is another thing.
Here in my hammering blood-pulse is my proof.

Let every painter paint and poet sing
And all the sons of music ply their trade;
Machines are weaker than a beetle’s wing.

Swung out of sunlight into cosmic shade,
Come what come may the imagination’s heart
Is constellation high and can’t be weighed.

Nor greed nor fear can tear our faith apart
When every heart-beat hammers out the proof
That life itself is miracle enough.

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DUMB INSOLENCE : SILENT RESISTANCE

Filed under: Poetry — Leave a comment
August 23, 2013

adrian_mitchellThe late Adrian Mitchell (1932 – 2008) is one of my favourite poets.

I was fortunate enough to see him perform a couple of times in London.

He was a lovely, gentle yet passionate man.

One of his great strengths was being able to see the world through the eyes of children particularly those who didn’t quite fit in and felt isolated.

Like this poem called Dumb Insolence:

I’m big for ten years old
Maybe that’s why they get at me

Teachers, parents, cops
Always getting at me

When they get at me

I don’t hit ‘em
They can do you for that

I don’t swear at em
They can do you for that

I stick my hands in my pockets
And stare at them

And while I stare at them
I think about sick

They call it dumb insolence

They don’t like it
But they can’t do you for it

I’ve been done before
They say if I get done again

They’ll put me in a home
So I do dumb insolence

*************

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ADRIAN MITCHELL R.I.P

Filed under: Poetry — Leave a comment
December 21, 2008

I was saddened today to  hear of the death of the poet Adrian Mitchell aged 76.

I was lucky enough to see him perform several times and I was always uplifted by his honesty and humanity.

He always struck me as a shy man with a natural sensitivity – a big softy with the courage to tell the truth. Continue reading →

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Peace is milk

Filed under: Italy, Poetry — Leave a comment
January 24, 2008
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I wrote to my friend David today how I think the climate affects a nation’s mood. He is in the English Midlands where the weather is grey, wet and gloomy. I am in Emilia Romagna where today there was glorious winter sunshine – clear skies and air that felt good to breathe, I had a spring in my step and felt a nice effortless flow to the day.I thought of some lines from the poem ‘Peace is Milk’ by Adrian Mitchell:

The world is falling to pieces

But some of the pieces taste good.

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