Poems by Tony Dawson

A Narrow Chest

The greatest sin of Anne Boleyn
was not to let King Henry in
her bed until he took her as his queen.
Within three years, she’d lost her sheen:
she’d only given him a daughter,
condemning her to regal slaughter.
Accused of adultery and even incest
with her brother, Anne did protest
that all the charges were untrue
but Henry said that she would rue
the day she walked into his life
and made him take her as his wife.
He promptly sent her to the Tower
stripped of influence and power.

Anne, from the scaffold, proud and unbowed,
with a weakened voice addressed the crowd
although quivering with fear at facing death
caused her to stammer and catch her breath.
She knelt upright to await the slice of the blade
in a Frenchman’s hands. Her body swayed
as her head flew off to be wrapped in a towel
while the onlookers flinched at a sight so foul.
By killing his wife, the king had emptied his nest
but had forgotten a coffin, hence the arrow chest
in which she was carried off to an unmarked grave,
the ultimate insult for a queen so brave.

Just a Thought

Advancing old age
brings out the stoic
in me not the heroic
and never the sage.

Old age brings wisdom
or that’s what they say.
Maybe it’s on its way,
but not yet in my system.

We’re alive, so it’s said,
through the force of Eros.
Despite Freud’s Thanatos,
we don’t know when we’re dead.

Barbers of Seville

The barber shops in Seville are like
pick-up joints, but for conversations:
you pay the barber to talk to you
and listen to you. They’re confessors
with the wit and understanding to solve
your problems with common sense.
They predate podcasters as purveyors
of information that you need to know,
for nobody can beat them at filling
the information gaps in your day.
In the street named Amor de Dios
you will find an immaculately
clean-shaven amateur psychologist
who will help you put your matrimonial
and parenting problems into perspective
so that you’ll leave with a neat haircut
and fresh hope in your ability to cope
with whatever life holds in store for you.