John Gallas Poetry

'Hope ushers in a Revolution, as earthquakes

are preceded by bright weather'


Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)





JULY, AUGUST & SEPTEMBER = REVOLUTION !



Go to the SEARCH box and type in 'poems 1/2/3/4/5' (then click SEARCH) for REVOLUTION poems :

1. The Ballad of Ravachol (TYPE IN 'poems 1')

2. Lovech : a Statue of Vassil Levski (TYPE IN 'poems 2')

3. The Day Emma Goldman danced the Anarchist Glide (TYPE IN 'poems 3')

4. A Workwoman's Death (TYPE IN 'poems 4')

5. Tibet Sonnet (TYPE IN 'poems 5')


Go to BUZZ for A VIEW OF A NEW BOOK and other NEWS ...


Go to LINKS for where to buy books and to uncover Things.


CONTACT ME AT john.gallas@ntlworld.com

Tibet Sonnet



to die with honour is better than to live with disgrace




 Zigzag crackles shotgunned out of space :

 Little Hoo sat bleeding in the grass.

 The river ramped beside him, raw as glass.

 I saw a drop drop in, as if the face

 of Namcha Barwa flapped with scarlet cloth.

 I wiped my glasses. Freedom never cost

 so much. He rocked and whispered. Loosening frost

 dribbled down his neck. A belt of froth

 blacked his pants. His arms, held out against me,

 shook and strained and shivered, shocked that I,

 to buy him books, had practised in Shanghai.

 He drained without a murmur. I was free.

 I ditched my kit. The dressings swirled and sank.

 I took his boots. They burned him on the bank.



                              *



(published in 'Star City' Carcanet 2004)