What I do
Every morning in Manitoba I do something
against my better judgement.
For breakfast I go to a restaurant,
order grilled shark,
chew each mouthful thoroughly
and leave without paying.
I vote for a political party in an election
and make a speech proposing marriage.
I write a poem without using a condom
and staple it to the door of a public building.
Then to prove my point
I pick an argument with somebody who knows.
Every afternoon in Arkansas
I do something I’ve never done before.
I walk backwards across a busy street,
meet someone I haven’t seen in years
and remember their name immediately.
Then I visit a bookshop and browse
the spiritual section until I’ve found out where I am
spiritually and incidentally discover a meaning
for the word spiritual that doesn’t make me want to
say something cruel to an innocent bishop
or spend the rest of eternity in a biscuit factory.
Every night in Nicaragua I do the impossible.
Using my arms as wings
I defy old laws like gravity
and taste the fire in a colourblind sunset.
Using my wits and my natural authority
I lay down new laws like there’s no tomorrow.
Then I go to bed with a woman
and satisfy her completely.
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