Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

The Undergraduate Cellar Company
for the maroon polo neck with flattened machine cut cable,
teamed with pink mini, maroon flowers, run up
from a remnant on the sewing machine
in the basement of the hall of residence,
where you make it in an afternoon, cutting
the lecture on the Paradox of Thrift;
and you apply for a job on Pi
but don’t go, in the end, overawed by student journalists
who seem to own their world; and you wear your new clothes
on the roof in the London grime,
holding the three inch diameter cake with one candle,
to celebrate your nineteenth birthday for a photo
to freeze time, and someone snaps you with Jen
sitting on the rail above nothing, laughing,
imitating the girls in Picture Post;

and from next door
rise wolf-howls
as RADA hopefuls practise jumping over cliffs.

Marriage Lines
for the navy/white dress with navy jacket,
navy picture hat, navy flowers, legs which reach
your bum, the shortest skirt you’ve ever worn,
flickering on a video translated
from Uncle Albert’s cine; and gosh
you are a stunner, not fat after all
and you laugh at balloons, tin cans,
shaving foam graffiti, pennies in hub caps,
and stand very straight so’s to show your wedding knickers;

and the day turns navy as he drives you away
and the windscreen wiper doesn’t work
and you haven’t packed a coat.

Motherhen
for the toning brown outfits,
velvet rompers and polo sweater for Tom,
trousers and striped top for Joe,
and the cramp comes as you dress them
but you smile, comb their hair,
sit them down in front of Playschool;
and you discover the blood and ring the doctor
but can’t go to bed because the photographer is due
and anyway if the foetus is slipping
maybe something is wrong and it’s all for the best,
but you make the guy move the table himself
to sit the boys against the wall for background
and you find the plants he wants
and Tom looks so cute with Joe’s arms around him;

and it’s just a comma, a punctuation mark
flushed down the loo,
and the photo arrives safely the next week.