The Ark

 




The Ark



In a Benedictine, all-boys boarding school

The dormitories should surely be

Named after saints or Roman colleges

Revered former Abbots, Old Testament books,

At least, maybe, nearby Berkshire parishes.

But we had “White”, “Brown”, “Blue” and “Open”

This last holding 40 or so boys’ beds en masse,

I think there was “Upper”, maybe “Junior” too.

But notably then, “The Ark”, single cells,

In a redbrick, three-storey rules-coffer,

A large, flat-bottomed boat in which

Sixth Formers ride out God’s vengeance,

With their porn mags and black-market blocks of fags,

One-by-one.


Steve Lang

  

Steve Lang has published one collection of poetry to date, entitled, "'Heavenly Hurt".

Steve’s poem, “Raphael” has been nominated by Ariel Chart International Literary Journal for the 2020 Pushcart Poetry Prize and is currently the magazine’s most-read piece. The same magazine also recently published “Lady’s Slipper”, “My empty hammock” and “Two dragonflies joined”.

“Hymn to Ninkasi”, a sonnet, was just recently published by Grand Little Things and “The fig and the wasp” has been accepted for publication in October by Plum Tree Tavern.

Though from Scotland originally, Steve has travelled widely, especially in Africa and currently lives in El Salvador with his wife and three children, where he is Director of a large and well-known international school.


3 Comments

  1. quite a british scenario and i could never understand why such confinement is deemed healthy for a child. school is also about socialization and family involvement not just a place for instruction.

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  2. seems to me a place vulnerable to child abuse and bad cable movies. not sure why joy we should find in these dungeons. but then again few understand the british and their strange habits.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes...very different times of course (early 80's mostly)...but still a very weird, and, especially in some cases, damaging experience...

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