Poetry
Wignacourt and Page
A portrait designed exclusively to flatter:
the Grand Master of the Order of Malta,
rivet-plated, fully armoured, more stag beetle
than man, human tank ready for battle,
power-posing with a baton, hamming it up
like a two-bit actor, one thick foot thrust
awkwardly forward, no more flesh and blood
than a black knight navigating a chessboard.
But it’s the wide-eyed, tight-lipped page
to his left who engages, feather-kissed
fop juxtaposed with grizzled monster,
as if mirroring the duality of the painter.
When the oils dry, Caravaggio is thrown inside
a Stygian prison for an unmentionable crime.
Julian Bishop
Julian Bishop’s first collection of eco poems called We Saw It All Happen was published in 2023 by Fly On The Wall Press. A former environment journalist turned poet, he lives in Barnet with his family and dog and runs a small media company. He’s worked for many years as both reporter and producer with the BBC and also on ITV’s News At Ten. He’s been widely published and also been runner-up in the International Ginkgo Prize for Eco Poetry. He’s currently working on a follow-up collection of eco poems as well as a separate project about the life and times of the Italian painter Caravaggio.