|
|
The Ground Floors of Hotels
The ground floors of hotels
should be orphanages
so unwanted food
and unwanted love
can be thrown over balconies
and caught by the children.
Adulterers in the Park
We shouldn't come here,
distressing nature.
Holding hands
on this park bench,
bathed in sunlight,
we look so clean
- holy almost -
but behind us
our deception
casts a shadow,
that darkens the earth
and hurts the flowers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Book signings at the launch of 'The Entire Animal' |
|
|
| Derby Waterstone's, 26th July 2006 |
Faith
I pass him his teddy, tuck him in, give him a kiss. I smile. 'What would I do without
you, son?' He gives an answer: 'You'd find me.'
Credit notes:
"The Ground Floors of Hotels" first published
in Aesthetica 17, May 2007
"Adulterers in the Park"
first published
in Psychopoetica 47, April 2001
"In a Barber's Shop" published in Litro 103, February 2011
All site content (c) 2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
From In a Barber's Shop
The boy picks up a magazine from the table, his face flushing
slightly as if it were an act of theft. On the front cover, surrounded by flashes of brightly coloured lettering and oversized
exclamation marks, is a woman, curved and bronzed and glistening in a shiny gold bikini. She stands, legs slightly apart,
hair thrown back, her hands on her hips. Her lips have opened into what might be a smile, or the remnants
of a kiss. The boy pretends to be reading the words that hang above her head, or those that lay at her feet, as if his interest
is in something other than the woman herself.
|
|
|
