Getting his head straight
The construction took a week
of his spare time, more or less,
and that included queuing
at the checkout, for the wood,
sashcord, pulley and two breeze blocks.
The steel came from a scrap yard,
quite cheap, but he had to grind
the edge himself.
All day Sunday experimenting
with the release, the drop,
smoothing and waxing the runners.
Four cabbages and finally
a leg of pork. Afterwards
he cooked one half of the meat,
threw the other away.
For three and half weeks
it has stood there, in the bedroom.
Every night before turning off the light,
he has looked at it and smiled.
Tonight is the night, he has decided,
a large glass of Talisker,
a bath, some candles, the CD player on,
Roberta Flack is singing
The first time ever I saw your face.
He is lying, face down, naked,
still slightly damp, smelling of Radox,
cord in his right hand,
trying to get his head straight,
waiting for the track to end.
of his spare time, more or less,
and that included queuing
at the checkout, for the wood,
sashcord, pulley and two breeze blocks.
The steel came from a scrap yard,
quite cheap, but he had to grind
the edge himself.
All day Sunday experimenting
with the release, the drop,
smoothing and waxing the runners.
Four cabbages and finally
a leg of pork. Afterwards
he cooked one half of the meat,
threw the other away.
For three and half weeks
it has stood there, in the bedroom.
Every night before turning off the light,
he has looked at it and smiled.
Tonight is the night, he has decided,
a large glass of Talisker,
a bath, some candles, the CD player on,
Roberta Flack is singing
The first time ever I saw your face.
He is lying, face down, naked,
still slightly damp, smelling of Radox,
cord in his right hand,
trying to get his head straight,
waiting for the track to end.
Page(s) 19
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