<\/p>\n
Pledge<\/strong><\/p>\n What to do? You sign it, a name, its capitals, its lower case committed, pledge what future and cannot see beyond the demon right here. But cannot know has the word upon its label induced by those who should <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brian Johnstone<\/strong>\u2019s latest collection is Dry Stone Work<\/em> (Arc, 2014). His work has appeared throughout Scotland and in the UK, America and Europe. He is a co-founder of StAnza: Scotland\u2019s International Poetry Festival and was Festival Director from 2001-2010. His\u00a0 poems appear on The Poetry Archive.\u00a0 www.brianjohnstonepoet.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note:\u00a0 this poem first published in Antiphon<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pledge What to do? You sign it, as they all do, sign it in your childish hand, descenders and ascenders imperfectly described, a name, its capitals, its lower case presented in the ink that\u2019s drying even as you gaze at it, drying as you think yourself committed, pledge what future you are able to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10913"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23831,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10913\/revisions\/23831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nas they all do, sign it in your childish hand,
\ndescenders and ascenders imperfectly described,<\/p>\n
\npresented in the ink that\u2019s drying even
\nas you gaze at it, drying as you think yourself<\/p>\n
\nyou are able to conceive of to an absence,
\ndisavowal (though you do not know these words)<\/p>\n
\nconjured up before your eyes, you wish
\nin all your being to avoid. You will. You swear to it<\/p>\n
\nwhat liquor in a glass is waiting on a table,
\nwhat bottle, sweating in the heat of some back room,<\/p>\n
\nthat will draw you in, make a mockery
\nof this, its scrolls and curlicues, the fake solemnity<\/p>\n
\nknow better, playing on a child\u2019s mind,
\nits addiction only to a vow, a campaign, to a faith.<\/p>\n