Shreds Upon the Cutter’s Floor
Poetry
Shreds Upon the Cutter’s Floor
Tennessee by Hans Zimmer
A haunting sound
this melody,
Tennessee.
The name…
Beauty,
Romance,
Love,
Sacrifice,
Eloquence, even.
The mind electrified,
An understanding, fathomless
Our very origin
Communicating.
It seems now
we are out of step.
No! No!!
With the present
I am out of step!
Reflecting
even twenty years behind
connection is absent.
The PAST
It is gone!
That way of life.
That constancy.
That sure footing.
Beneath my feet
all ground has moved.
Left upon the edge,
Only air resists me,
And if it gives,
and I am gone.
This onslaught from border north,
These islands fragmenting,
hastening,
where once no borders stood!
We see constancy in retrospect.
Our present lot we bemoan.
Suddenly, time stands still.
But Hark!
That haunting call,
that beckoning,
that yearning.
That flash
…
Incandescent,
Brilliant,
Seismic
the Past in all its solidity
is fluidity.
Old standards smashed.
Life’s principles mocked,
Shredded
as a cutter shreds
on the floor of the tailor’s shop.
Why destroy
that which is good?
That which is even?
That which is natural?
That which is normal?
Why behave
without restraint?
Without thought?
With ignorance?
With rebellion?
Our laws are broken.
Why?
Dictators stand firm.
The ledge again.
Why?
Ingenuity counts for nothing.
Why?
The headlong rush to oblivion.
Why?
Oblivion is not death.
Oblivion is not unawareness.
Being eternally cut off
But eternally aware ~ THAT is Oblivion
Afterword
We all reflect on events.
People sometimes ask me to write ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ stories and poems. Now and I again, I do.
I must observe the murkier side of life as well, because human nature is the engine that drives humanity.
That engine frequently breaks down, and we come to a stop.
Other times, it overheats. We all get angry and take it out on the passengers and other road users.
The saying “blown a gasket” is apt.
Other times still, we are convinced that we have the solution and, what’s more, we’re going to make sure everyone has the same solution.
The saying “toe the line” is apt.
At which point, enter from an ignominious side road, little people with big plans that, alas, can only be implemented if they be permitted to take over and dictate.
The rest is history.
But also in that final moment comes the reality that when singular moment arrives, something quite extraordinary happens.
For from death and back to life I take that QUANTUM LEAP!
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
9 October 2025
All Rights Reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2025 Ian Bradley Marshall
Composed 1 March 2021
Shreds Upon the Cutters Floor
Reflecting
even twenty years behind
connection is absent.
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
