New Occidental Poetry

Awkward Television

My work sent off, the fire lit, the rain
scrubbing the skylights, I turned it on to see
Neville Chamberlain's grand-daughter

presenting a 1938 four-leaf clover
silver dish on the Antiques Roadshow,
a gift from a grateful public.

Four leaves for the four nations of peace.
No, she says, his words were altered.
He meant peace only for a time
,

not ours. On its own, three hundred
pounds. With your family tie, safely—
it is exquisite—two to three thousand,
these things just don't come up

- Nathaniel Lucas

Arthur PowellNathaniel Lucas