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

He breathes
He looks
The words tumblestumble from brain to gut from gut to brain the  game’s afoot expectant faces stare –
He breathes again the words discharge his mouth torrential dark and  ominous he searches for his voice –
The flow that’s what he seeks and hopes he can discover nuance  subtlety beats pauses rhythm rhyme accentuate the necessary  consonants and vowels from the stage with no lights he wants an  incandescent glow to beam itself by satellite onto planets and skies  somewhere he seeks the flow and knows it’s near tonight he knows  it’s close but can he grasp it?  
Harness it?
Let it pass through him inhabit him for a time long enough to deliver  before inhibitions cramp again he needs to be free to fly or die to live  it’s his world    
He wants to enter to escape but in a public space what might occur? What might be released?    
The potential for danger is enough a starting point a hope to flee from  hum drum beat a faster tempo write his name as a bridge across the  fourth wall for them to take even though he’ll never meet them to  etch himself a place somewhere in them he’ll remain possibly  indelibly possibly not   
Who cares what they think he thinks he’s just another poet in the  sphere trying to be noticed remembered before dismembered by his  donor card he’s split asunder across the needy wings of hospitalised  malfunctioning people with things missing and broken he can offer  a smoke stained lung or two a pickled liver long sighted visionary  peepers a half speed half cocked brain that sometime works
He needs to talk
To communicate now 
Are you listening? 
Can you hear him? 
He needs to know his insecurities are beginning to show Oh No! Hello  I’m your self doubt I just popped up to say hello now I’ll pop back down  below to gnaw at your confidence well that was me now here I go
His words stumbletumblesomersaults through space pingpongbounce  around in thoughtdrainbrain from this free jumble thought spray  scenting sentences sentencing himself to the possibility of ridicule  failure confusion and disaster he takes the risk for what?     
The need to speak?
The need to talk?
The need to listen?
The need to belong? The need to be short? 
The need to be who he is he is not sure but he knows the need to offer  the possibility of dialogue is here  
Opposed to a monologue to visit with a tourist pass paying for the  dubious privilege of listening to another’s internal diatribe  communication’s fucking hard what’s he doing now?
Forcing himself on an unsuspecting public who surely deserve to be  entertained with humour or the tumour in their funny bone will  swell until it needs to burst a micro–phoned sic comic society  jokeboundabout macro trago-comic life costing errors and mistakes  are normal     
He needs to be bold enough to speak without joking
He needs to gag the clown within
To yoke the easy joke and show you him unguardedrawvulnerable
He needs to stand before you naked
Let you see the insides of his bones
He needs to start again from scratch try to catch himself passing
To See what he’s seeing
To Hear what he’s hearing
To Think what he’s thinking
Then maybe he can speak again 
Who cares what they think he thinks again