Duncan Curry
Not A Kite
The dirty picture on the wall
is the cleanest thing in here.
The fat man sniffs, leans back in his chair
and points through the window.
Outside, the mud holds it all:
a stew of bolts, wire, grits, bits.
A mechanic beckons
an engine to the floor.
The fat man scratches, makes up a price.
‘Six quid,’ he says. ‘Five for cash.’
I borrow a pen
get the date from ‘Tabetha’.
The desk is gritty as a sump.
‘Not a kite, is it?’
The question hovers
as he writes my number.
Pleased at some cleverness, he winks:
‘Hope she doesn’t go down on you.’
Outside, a man moves among the minis
looking for a decent door.
The bodies pile high. A chimney smokes.
A drill screams.
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