Impatient

A Poem

By the rusty light of a flickering lighter
 I try to make out what you’re saying
 lips wrapped around…

Remake

A Poem

Shivering, like badly made shacks wobbling by the river, skin reattaches the fingers to the hands again…

Plans

A Poem

Paper plans get their first taste
 of fire
 the charcoal I use to brush shapes
 into place

Torpor

A Poem

The fingers don’t
want to write
won’t go their paces
like good soldiers
Insurrection in the
face of torpor…

The Consequences of Answering

A Poem

The Devil’s Doorstep

Hell’s fire and brimstone couldn’t keep me away from you

Wouldn’t Leave

A Poem

Passing around a joint of distinction, fading through walls and back onto furniture, open-mouth…

Eloquence

A Poem

Not
the reedy drip
from never-dry basements
or the purpled
rhetoric of the miser
the gasp of the lover…

Armoured, Still Bent

A Poem

I put on the clothes for today
 like worn bits of armour
 I didn’t know
 that I would…

Sumptuous Meal

Poetry

The last picture taken a
copied pretense by the butcheress
to suggest alternative cuts
without…