Alphabet Lesson
A for Apple, gleaming red
as the ball of her small hand
busily scrubs the paper,
the fat crayon fleshing the fruit
with colour. B for Bee,
the contrast of black and yellow,
the angry buzz in the heather,
the swollen foot limped to daddy;
tears and ice-cream. C for Cat,
black as a rain cloud, big white grin,
claws hidden. D for Dog,
rough-tongued, rough and tumble,
brown for his coat, the stubby red
for his tongue, blue for his cold eyes.
Concentration in her tongued lips,
shoulders protecting her work.
Grey for the huge Elephant; golden yellow
for the Fish; grey, too, for the weapon,
lines hatching its boxy shape,
red and orange for the flame blooming
from its barrel, red on white paper,
on her fingers, the waxy smell of crayon;
the sharp report as it snaps.
G for Gun, for gone, for good.
Page(s) 46
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