In the chaos of Montmartre
Smoke-drenched
And bustling
Where absinthe flowed
Like green fire
And the walls moved
With half-mad dreams
Picasso carved his rebellion
Into the bones of the old world
Poets and painters
Entangled in boozy arguments
Over beauty and truth
Voices rising
Like shattered hymns
In a broken church
A fever dream
A crucible of genius and ruin
And Picasso
Young and feral
Ripping the world apart
By sheer audacity
Piece by jagged piece
Rearranging it
Into something brutal
Aching and sublime
Each canvas
A mark of defiance
Demanding to be seen

John Drudge is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology. He is the author of seven books of poetry: March (2019), The Seasons of Us (2019), New Days(2020), Fragments (2021), A Long Walk (2023), A Curious Art (2024) and Sojourns (2024) . His work has appeared widely in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies internationa ly. John is also a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.