David Lyall
The Coat
Over a year he wore that coat, though
it was ill fitting, heavy, weighed him down
at the shoulders. Wore it even through
parts of the summer. It was dark, long,
with deep pockets, where memories hid
like crumpled pieces of paper, notes written,
scribbled to himself: how he might be rid
of it, shrug it off like a dream forgotten.
Now and then he patted the pockets, searching
for something, the coat like a cocoon
hardening. Yet some words seeped through, reaching
down, prising thick, bark-like layers open.
He emerged, not reborn, but strong: a grim,
slow shaking off - no butterfly came.
it was ill fitting, heavy, weighed him down
at the shoulders. Wore it even through
parts of the summer. It was dark, long,
with deep pockets, where memories hid
like crumpled pieces of paper, notes written,
scribbled to himself: how he might be rid
of it, shrug it off like a dream forgotten.
Now and then he patted the pockets, searching
for something, the coat like a cocoon
hardening. Yet some words seeped through, reaching
down, prising thick, bark-like layers open.
He emerged, not reborn, but strong: a grim,
slow shaking off - no butterfly came.
Page(s) 14
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The