Some of the references in the poem may not be familiar to all readers, so I've included brief notes here:

1. Hadrian: The Roman Emperor Hadrian is famous for building a wall which spans the width of England, close to the Scottish border, between AD 122 and AD 128. The purpose was mainly to keep the northern "barbarians" out, though it also served other purposes.

2. The Village: A 2004 film about a village whose inhabitants live in fear of creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it referred to as "Those We Don't Speak Of."

3. Silk Road: a network of trade routes which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce. "Those who share your borders" refers to Canada and Mexico.

4. Alexander's Gates: Alexander the Great purportedly chased his foreign enemies through a mountain pass in the Caucasia region and then enclosed them behind impenetrable iron gates.

5. The oldest city in the world: Jericho, which according to the Old Testament, was defeated by Joshua and his people shouting and blowing rams' horns. Following this, the Israelites slaughtered every man, woman and child in the city, except for one woman (a prostitute), and her family. Jericho is one of several cities which lay claim to being the oldest, but it is known to date back to 9000 BC, which according to some, is older than creation. The original wall was built only a few hundred years after the city. The wall referred to in the Battle of Jericho (1500 BC) was a newer construction.



The inspiration for this poem is the news that yesterday, the revamped Trans-Pacific Trade deal which was a key policy under the Obama administration, and dumped by Trump in his first days in office, has been finalised - without US participation. The eleven countries expected to sign the agreement in March are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. This serves to remind that the "walls" being erected by the 45th President of the United States are not only physical ones.


Today's word:

transmural (n.) beyond the wall.


My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.

Thanks for reading.

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