Brad EVANS was born in Sydney, Australia in 1971. He was placed into various educational institutions for twenty years, finally escaping in 1997 when poetry became too influential in his life. Some of his latest poems, articles, interviews, and reviews have been, or will soon be, featured in the following magazines (printed / online) and anthologies: Scriberazone (UK), Struggle (US), Centoria (AUST), Lateral Moves (UK), Wonderlust (UK), Poetry DownUnder (AUST), The Animist (AUST), Angel (UK), The Brobdingnagian Times (EIRE), Skald (UK), Breakfast All Day (UK / FR), Konfluence (UK), Paris / Atlantic (FR), Sivullinen (FNLD), Asphyxia (AUST), Quantum Leap (UK), Zine Zone (UK), Hobo (AUST), Ygdrasil (CAN), Dancing Barefoot (BELG), & (AUST), Apples & Oranges (US), Hjokfinnies Sanglines (UK), Panic! (UK), Roadworks (UK), Markings (UK), Haggard & Halloo (US), Voices of Liberation (UK), Rising (UK), Black Spring Review (US), Fire (UK), Manifold (UK), Lochs (UK), In Our Own Words (US), Cordite (AUST), Borderlines (UK), Zimmerzine (UK), Slacker (UK), Insurgentz (US), Braquemard (UK), Community of Poets (UK), Papillon (UK), At Last (UK), Poezine (UK), Big Bridge (UK). Brad is the founder and editor of Red Lamp, a journal for realist, socialist and humanitarian poetry.

RUNAWAY

throwing off this blanket

of ignorance
I pen

on a train

spilling lies and greed.
around me

those in limbo
sit or moan

to a victorious

deaf

the knives move

as

our backs move:
the men,

women,

the lost
stabbed and hauled

short

of
hope

some dream,

a spark

or chance
to know ourselves.

and I know

some time ago,
before I burst

hopelessly out
onto

this wicked carriage

called life-
decisions

commands

orders
were issued for us

in a prenatal manner
to ensure a benign

and ignorant flock:
servitude

for

the few

of them

 

and

I call on them
all

these wise men

from

the institutions:
the Chicago School,

the enlightened

Harvard cavaliers
who think
that living beyond their

means

can demonstrate something:
an ambition,

a way of securing

individual power
over something

hideous
as
this
out

of

control
beast

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