Poets on tour: 'the UK has been torn in two like a bad poem'

Journeying through idyllic country to meet another great crowd in Crickhowell is the joyous prelude to a dark night watching the polls

Referendum Day. We poets have sensed the drifting presence of the malevolent genie uncorked from its bottle by the foolhardy chancer David Cameron as we journey further northwards. A front garden outside Gloucester is entirely fortressed by three huge boards repeating the wish: Give Us Our Country Back.

On Thursday afternoon, we drive on to Crickhowell, but there’s time to wander the pleasant streets of Monmouth first. Proprietor of Boutique says Leave. Taxi driver: Leave. Waiters in curry house: Leave. Gig organiser Helen Taylor and I picnic on the river by the Monnow Bridge, the only surviving medieval bridge in Britain, and chat about our families. One of Helen’s daughters, on her way to vote, texts: “See you on the other side.”

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