Mike Barlow
Summer Madness
For a dare they dived from the bridge,
both summer drunk
and whooping
into the lazy tide.
The river opened its silt brown throat,
sucked them like minnows,
swallowed one whole,
choked on the other,
spat him back.
He gasped, the shock of breath
unfurling a yell from his lungs,
then turned
to find his mate.
But all he saw
was the deceit of water,
and sunlight braiding it.
His shouts bounced
like skimming stones,
then sank, unanswered.
He swam in circles,
his mind floundered,
the current clawed his clothes,
his feet trod the bottomless pus of mud.
Peering from the bridge
we shook our heads, pointed,
stomachs tightening,
watched this wild figure
thrash the river that had beckoned him,
curse the mate
who held his breath forever.
magazine list
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- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
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- Atlas
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- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
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- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
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- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
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- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
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- 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