“[…] a human body presented itself to me… an old decrepit woman who
had fled [to St Paul’s] for safety, imagining the flames would not have
reached her there. Her clothes were burnt, and every limb reduced to a
coal.” (William Taswell, quoted by Dave Fowler in the great fire of london dot net)
From such innocuous beginnings –
embers, glowing metal, sparks –
grew hell, grewhorror, holocaust
and every limb reduced to coal
Then faster than a child could run
the growing blaze spread up and out,
sent darting filaments of flame
and every limb reduced to coal
Filling lungs with searing pain,
filling eyes with blank confusion,
filling minds with hopeless fear
and every limb reduced to coal
And when atlast the fever bated,
leaving blackened, ruined shells,
and when the furnace was damped down
and every limb reduced to coal
then the crowds stood round the pyre,
scant possessions at their feet,
the number left inside unknown
and every limb reduced to coal
Peter J. King was active on the London poetry scene in the 1970s, as poet, publisher, editor, performer, broadcaster, and events organiser. Returning to poetry in 2013 after an absence of about thirty years, he’s since been widely published in journals and anthologies. He also translates, mainly from modern Greek (with Andrea Christofidou) and German, writes short prose, and paints. His most recent poetry collection is Ghost Webs (The Calliope Script, 2022)