John Ward
Nocturne
As he walks out of the wood
they are there. On the far side.
A deep stream, choked with green
slimy weed, flows between.
There is nowhere to hide.
They wave. He must pretend
not to see, or how will it end?
They sit together on the grass.
Mother wears a wide-brimmed hat,
a cool white dress.
Her face is in shadow
and Father is turned half-away,
but it's them all right.
Like it used to be, except that
Father has grown thinner,
more elegant in light grey suit.
On a linen sheet, dinner
is laid out, with glasses and fruit.
Father, always a good host,
pours wine, raises glass in silent toast.
Mother waves to him again.
It irritates. He makes great show
of examining a flower,
turns on his heel; it's time to go.
Another day, another hour, there'll be
a boat, a bridge, some way over.
He must not look round before he reaches cover.
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