Richard Hawtree

Richard Hawtree’s poems have appeared in literary magazines including: The Stinging Fly, Banshee, The Honest Ulsterman, The Penny Dreadful, Boyne Berries, and Scintilla. He is a Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Brighton.

 

 

 

 

 

Digital Detox

I want to make for Michel de Montaigne’s tower;

though unsure of its exact location

(because you can’t rely on current apps)

I think it’s near Bordeaux.

 

And when I find myself there I’ll retrace

all those exotic maxims

(and maybe some mannerist flourishes)

the Renaissance essayist daubed on roof-beams

 

for the confounding of millennials.

And I’m minded to sing, and seal love letters

to the timbre of a 3D-printed lute.

 

And later, descending unsteady trip-stairs,

I’ll head to the Gironde to wash all taste

for algorithms from my clouded feet.

 

© 2018 Richard Hawtree