Veetsek
Aunt Doreen was really
only a neighbour
who kept
chickens
in her
garage
her husband
Val
smoked Chesterfields
she’d yank
from his mouth
& extinguish
between her
geraniums
the largest
chicken
named Veetsek
(German or Polish
for “little boy”
Val told me) would
escape
wake us on Saturdays
peck that peat moss
for butts
find 1
& strut over
our dandelions
with it parting
his
beak
this seemed natural
given the rest
of my childhood
though no one knew exactly
how
Veetsek escaped
plus he’d strut
around only
with butts
that still smoked
Aunt Doreen
would laugh
as much
as I
at his pride
in his habit
while Val
read his sports page
in slippers
on his porch
maybe Val
lets out Veetsek
I’d think
after noises
outside
my window
would end my dreams
& I’d part
2 blinds
& see moonlit
Val sneaking a butt
beside his garage
with a strange
skinny lady
who after
the noises
came
to rest
would adjust
her white
swimsuit
then quietly
enjoy a
smoke too
Page(s) 128-130
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