Boys Who Will Be Men
Pippa had tiny hands and tiny feet.
She wore dresses and gold-buckle shoes
Even when she wasn’t going to parties.
Pippa was afraid of the big boys
Who had stubble instead of hair,
Stank of ale and punched each other’s arms with red fists.
After school, we sat on the kerb
Chewing lime-flavoured gum
While the big boys played football in the road.
My brother was one of them.
When he was after the ball
His shirt came loose from his trousers
And flapped like a white flag.
But there was no peace where we lived.
magazine list
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- Agenda
- Ambit
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- Atlas
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- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
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- Dream Catcher
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- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
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- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
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- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
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- North, The
- Oasis
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- Orbis
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- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
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- 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