Richard Pierce

@tettig.bsky.social

838 Followers 832 Following

He/him. Novelist, poet, Spoken Word artist, painter, champion of new music. Debut novel DEAD MEN nominated for Guardian First Book Award. #StandUpToRacism. European. #RejoinEU. www.tettig.com. Don't DM me unless you know me.

Horse and knight statue against background of dark clouds and high-rise building with lots of glass windows. Legend reads Somewhere, Fairytale. Richard Pierce.

The World Order

Betrayals have a way of succeeding at first,
Until the betrayed have the courage to stand
Together against the betrayer. There is always a
Risk when weapons are involved, and the men
With the deadliest weapons are those with the
Most unpredictable and damaged minds.

It’s time to stop speaking figuratively.

When we marched against nuclear weapons, we
Already and always knew there was not just
One enemy, and that the West was as culpable
As the East, as Asia, as all the war mongers
Who learned nothing from World War II except to
Postpone and hide their real ambitions. All
Of them are imperialist dictators and chancers.
And no-one listened, and our protests continued
Ignored and diminished and starved of the
Oxygen of public awareness. So the world slept.

Where does kindness go when tyrants breathe?

And now the US threatens Europe,
And Russia threatens Europe,
And China threatens Taiwan,
And Israel threatens everyone,
And the US threatens South America,
And Europe threatens itself.

We can no longer know if the jets above are friends or foe.

The world order remains as it always was.
The rich against the poor. It’s never changed.
We try to resist.

R 06/01/2026 16:37 Norwich

Now

Now is a dangerous time
In the world, when
Grey men who want power
Enlist mass support through
Lies about immigration, and the

Foreign, invent stories of
A threat to their countries from
Roving gangs of other
Races, and preach
Inhumanity rather than
Decency, declare war on
Goodness and dignity,
Elevate the destruction of lives

Instead of encouraging tolerance
So we all can live together in

A world of peace and

Real understanding. Truth is
Anathema to these
Culture warriors whose words
Incriminate themselves, and
Show them to be
The real villains

Always. History will
Not judge them kindly, these
Destroyers of unity

And compassion.

Look at facts, not
Insidious lies and motives,
And preach and practice
Resistance to hatred.

R 26/08/2025 16:57 Norwich

The Racist

You say everyone’s equal.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You say colour doesn’t matter.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You say people must be safe.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You say you have foreign friends.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You take holidays abroad.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You don’t like foreign food.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You only speak English.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You won’t do some jobs.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You’re a benefits fraud.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You hate paying tax.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You wave a red and white flag.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You’re red in the face.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You say you’re Christian.
You’re anti-immigrant.
You say you’re not racist.
Actually, you are racist.
You’re anti-immigrant.

R 23/08/2025 12:07 Norwich

Blond man wearing round glasses, in a tuxedo, white shirt, black bow tie, smiling.
James Bond Is Dead
Richard Pierce featuring The Big Grey Man
Photo: Di Mackey Photography

Island Of Strangers

We’re already there.
Where no-one leaves their doors unlocked,
Where suspicion is the prime emotion,
Where the sick are a burden,
Where the poor are third class,
Where trans people are legislated against,
Where foreigners are scum,
Where race crime is in fashion again,
Where anyone different is bad,
Where intolerance is encouraged,
Where Europe is the enemy,
Where racists are true friends,
Where no-one is allowed to trust another,
Where the only respected minority is fascist,
Where no promises are kept,
Where love is a foreign word,
Where empathy is discouraged,
Where truth is a dirty word,
Where everyone hates each other,
Where political expediency trumps statesmanship,
Where culture is broken,
Where there s no future.

R 13/05/2025 00:07 Norwich

Empty wooden chair with armrests against blurred background. without goodbyes.

Empty wooden chair with armrests against blurred background. without goodbyes.

Empty chair against a wall, colour distorted. Plain legend: without goodbyes.

Book cover. Photograph of Barne Glacier in the Antarctic covers front cover, spine and back cover. The words are:
Richard Pierce.
Ice Child.
The sequel to Dead Men.

"They do say you have to be prepared to let your children go because they were never yours to begin with, but that doesn't stop the pain, nor the memories of someone you love no longer being there. I should have seen the darkness coming."

It’s over twenty years since Birdie and Adam went to the Antarctic, and barely survived. Their daughter, Emily, has grown up admiring Shackleton, much to her mother’s displeasure. Just out of university, Emily disappears, only to resurface in New Zealand, on her way to the Antarctic, to retrace the route of Shackleton’s forgotten expedition in 1909, when he got to within 97 miles of the South Pole. And now she's missing, presumed dead.

When Birdie and Adam illegally go onto The Ice in the desperate hope to find Emily still alive, they discover the US and New Zealand governments have been keeping a secret which could endanger the whole planet.
Interspersed with reimagined episodes from Shackleton's expedition, Ice Child asks if adventure and exploration always exact too high a price.

This Void

Between them – 963 abstract
Units of distance measurement.
The connection flickers, ebbs, dies,
Resurrects, but there’s no sign of
Life at the other end, the one
Far away.

Come home, come home

Edited pictures, adjusted memories,
Sparkle, shimmer, fade, distorted
Images and facts, somehow,
Blurred fragments of what was
A life somewhere back there
Then.

Come home, come home

Agencies, officialdom, consent,
Hoops and loops and dupes,
Manifests, lies, and truths,
The puzzles of mind and body,
And corruption in all its senses,
Loss.

Come home, come home

No echo in this void, no moving
Forwards or backwards, no living,
No working, no happiness, no
Chance of joy or food or peace.
This void of uncertainty.

Come home, come home, come home.

R 03/12/2024

ICE CHILD

Chapter 1

I didn’t see the darkness coming.

We came back from the Antarctic over twenty years ago, our lives barely intact. We’d only been married for a few short months, and Birdie was pregnant when we’d flown down there to search for the root of her obsession, the grave of Captain Scott, Henry Bowers, and Edward Wilson. What we found was more outlandish than any dream or fiction could ever have been.
And now, we’ve lost everything. Because an only child is everything. Because our real achievement was our child. But she’s gone, and there’s no trace of her. The Ice gave us our daughter. And now it’s taken her away from us.
In reality, I should have known it would end like this. A child born to two obsessives will become exactly that. And that’s what we both are, that tiny blonde-haired ball of energy who decided to marry me, and me, with my lack of self-esteem and my love of computers, and my all-consuming love of her. And that little girl in the middle, asking all the right questions and never getting the right answers, because we were too wrapped up in wasting our lives to understand that she was the most precious thing we’d ever had. A life gone by without us noticing. Actually, three lives. And what is there to show for all that time that’s passed? An empty room, a rucksack gone, a scent lingering.
For Birdie, it all started with Bowers because he was her namesake, because her father had named her after Scott’s most faithful companion, because she’d been obsessed by the idea that she might actually be related to that Scotsman with the big nose and the red cheeks. And for me it all started when I met Birdie. I’d been ignorant of Antarctic history before that, ignorant of everything really. Probably still am, because I understand nothing. And for our daughter it all started with Shackleton, Birdie’s least favourite Antarctic explorer.
I should have seen the darkness from the beginning.

Book cover. Photograph of Barne Glacier in the Antarctic covers front cover, spine and back cover. The words are:
Richard Pierce.
Ice Child.
The sequel to Dead Men.

"They do say you have to be prepared to let your children go because they were never yours to begin with, but that doesn't stop the pain, nor the memories of someone you love no longer being there. I should have seen the darkness coming."

It’s over twenty years since Birdie and Adam went to the Antarctic, and barely survived. Their daughter, Emily, has grown up admiring Shackleton, much to her mother’s displeasure. Just out of university, Emily disappears, only to resurface in New Zealand, on her way to the Antarctic, to retrace the route of Shackleton’s forgotten expedition in 1909, when he got to within 97 miles of the South Pole. And now she's missing, presumed dead.

When Birdie and Adam illegally go onto The Ice in the desperate hope to find Emily still alive, they discover the US and New Zealand governments have been keeping a secret which could endanger the whole planet.
Interspersed with reimagined episodes from Shackleton's expedition, Ice Child asks if adventure and exploration always exact too high a price.

Market Stalls

She’d always thought he was cute,
despite his being short and portly,
with the squint which lent mischief
to his sad face, which only sometimes
smiled, usually when he saw her.
This day, she spotted him first. He
trundled down the steps into the market,
his arms working so hard to keep him
balanced. Today, he looked extremely sad,
almost haggard with it. She tried to, but
couldn’t, look away. And still he didn’t
see her, headed off towards his own stall
bf books no longer loved, pulled up
the shutters to start stacking and
restacking the books because it stopped
them from getting dusty. The sun was
only just up, so she brewed two super
strength double espressos, closed her
stall, and, heart racing, carried them the
thirty feet to where he was busying
himself. When he looked up, the
misalignment of his eyes was no longer
mischievous, even sadder than his face
had ever been. ‘Coffee?’ She held the
paper cup out to him. He tried to smile,
but his face wouldn’t work. ‘Thanks.’
His whisper as hoarse as the first frost.
She bent towards him. ‘You can talk to
me. Honestly.’ He turned this way and that.
‘And that’s the thing,’ he said after too
long a pause. ‘I’m afraid of it, afraid it
will drive you away from this place, and
I’ll never see you again.’ ‘Why? How?’
She stuttered. ‘We’re good mates, aren’t
we?’ She wanted to say more. Took a sip
instead. ‘I couldn’t, wouldn’t leave here,
You.’ He shook his head. ‘You don’t
Understand.’ ‘I do. Perhaps you don’t see
it. Me. Here. Now.’ His turn to sip. ‘I’ve
always seen you. From the first.’ ‘Same.’
‘Then why have we said nothing? She
Dropped her cup and reached out to him,
a head taller than he. ‘Would you, could you?’
she says. Forever,’ he said. The next day their
Stalls were deserted.

R 28/11/2024 20:09

Shatter

Some days are better,
When he’s too busy to remember
What brought him here,
And he doesn’t count the years
Since it happened.

Tucked deep into his hood
And coat and boots and gloves,
He glowers at the nonsense
That surrounds him, anger
Which keeps demons at bay;

His demons, the ones he can
Avoid by walking endlessly,
Apparently aimlessly, through
This city and the fields and
Forests around it,

From before dawn until late
Into the frozen night. Only
When he pushes open the door
To the empty anonymous
House, do they stir,

And then he remembers that
Day, far behind, when she told
Him she didn’t love him,
When she froze his heart,
And listened to it shatter.

R 27/11/2024 19:46

Stack of books in plain cardboard boxes piled up on a piano keyboard. Pister in background of a picture of a male face with mouth open shouting "Poetry For All."

Crossing Boundaries

A convicted rapist
Builds a wall along
An imagined border.

A convicted fraudster
Builds a wall of lies
Between peoples.

A criminal who
Should be in jail
Wins an incel election.

A felon dyes himself
Orange, and hates
All natural colours.

A murderer, not yet
Convicted for any,
Pledges to murder again.

Box full of paperback books. The book is Ice Child. The cover features the title on top of a picture of an Antarctic glacier.

Book cover. Photograph of Barne Galcier in the Antarctic covers front cover, spine and back cover. The words are:
Richard Pierce.
Ice Child.
The sequel to Dead Men.

"They do say you have to be prepared to let your children go because they were never yours to begin with, but that doesn't stop the pain, nor the memories of someone you love no longer being there. I should have seen the darkness coming."

It’s over twenty years since Birdie and Adam went to the Antarctic, and barely survived. Their daughter, Emily, has grown up admiring Shackleton, much to her mother’s displeasure. Just out of university, Emily disappears, only to resurface in New Zealand, on her way to the Antarctic, to retrace the route of Shackleton’s forgotten expedition in 1909, when he got to within 97 miles of the South Pole. And now she's missing, presumed dead.

When Birdie and Adam illegally go onto The Ice in the desperate hope to find Emily still alive, they discover the US and New Zealand governments have been keeping a secret which could endanger the whole planet.
Interspersed with reimagined episodes from Shackleton's expedition, Ice Child asks if adventure and exploration always exact too high a price.

An introductory video. A man with specs sitting in front of shelves full of books and vinyl and talking.

Radio Stradbroke
#NewMusicFriday
www.radiostradbroke.co.uk
15 November 2024 13:00
15 November 2024 23:00
HotWax - She's Got A Problem
Maria Iskariot - Dat Vind Ik Lekker
stepmom - Heavy Lifting
Lambrini Girls - Big Dick Energy
Bikelane - Juveniles
jasmine.4.t - Elephant
Svart Ridaa - Kall
The Twistettes - Big Boned
Gianni Barba - Cryo
Muntjax - I'm A Pessimist
Seline - notes at 2am
Pleasure Island - Greek Riot Squad
The Beautiful Game - Hollywood In Holloway
Pit Pony - Well Well
waverley. - How It Starts