MICK YATES - POEMS

Mick Yates was born in Blackpool and currently lives in Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria,
in the far north of England. He has worked extensively as a playwright and director and has had more than thirty plays produced at theatres across the country. He has received many awards, including an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First, a Benn Levy Award and was shortlisted for an Independent Theatre Award. He has also written for television, most notably for the BBC series Doctors.  artefacts, his debut poetry collection, was published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in 2015 and his second collection kaleidoscope was published by them in 2017. A new chapbook, the art of conversation, will be published by the New York based Clare Songbirds Publishing House early in 2018. 

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is the universe ready for us yet?
​

​one day
when this still beautiful world
has been eaten away by greed
and reduced to barren dust
 
one day
when we are forced to leave
our earthly eden
when our planet
has been designated a heritage site
and our descendants visit
the mother ship on package holidays
 
one day
when we are still plundering other planets
other constellations and galaxies
in our colonial lust
 
one day
when we are eternally
repeating our past mistakes
 
some prophet some visionary
or merely some wise individual
might suggest an alternative route
to the stars
 
one that is based
on harmony
tolerance and compassion
for all human kind
 
one day

global crisis
​

​if you were to enquire of me
i would say that there
is still more good magic
in the world than bad
but i fear the balance
may be shifting soon
and that evil may once more
be in the ascendency
remain certain however
that small deeds of kindness
may hold the sway
give what goodness you can spare
in a quiet anonymous way
spread love kindness and compassion
wherever you may go
neither draw attention
to what you do
nor crave any reward
and all will be well in time
if you were to enquire of me
 

the past
​

​is not just the past
 
it is what informs us
 
it is our common heritage
 
not just a personal
 
but a universal history
 
that courses through our blood
 
through our genes
 
it makes us what we are
 
the totality of our progress to date
 
not disparate or racial
 
but a reminder of where we came from
 
of the distance travelled by us all so far
 
it is not separate from that of others
 
but serves as a reminder to us all
 
of how long the journey
 
is that we still have to travel
 
and of the distance we still have to make
 
before it is too late
 

origins
​

​where we come from
 
is not important
 
when we are younger
 
it is the present
 
that holds most currency
 
as we grow older
 
it is not the temporal
 
that we seek anymore
 
but another door
 
to our other selves
 
it is a lineage that we desire
 
a sense of some deeper belonging
 
a depth to our own personal history
 
a stratification for our future continuity
 
we all need a narrative
 
to justify our existence
 

hurt
​

​ 
i can feel the hurt
 
of the world sometimes
 
the pain and the sadness
 
not just of my own
 
or of those close to me
 
but the wide expanse of grief
 
felt across the towns
 
the cities the countries
 
and the continents
 
of our small revolving planet
 
i can feel the hurt
 
of the world sometimes
 
and it grieves me