Tim Cutler
Line
Birthday morn my folks,
klag valentine and rapture
needled an April fish on my back
the poison inks of kith and kin
calling down from memory of:
dead Frank’s slaps, and
Mary’s penance,
the jacktar’s crippled tub
and painting there
as sure as cock to cave
the ancient tag of
absence, strap, the bottle.
In crimson cod the whistling wraith
of coopers stick
deckhands fist
of Arkwright’s bloody limp,
lame by cogs the coal and mill hours
long penury the stricken plough tattoo
A signature of gout uncles
and jilted ancient aunts, cousins,
the hurt of ages
spat out in
gobs, green millennia
at the new born.
We flay these fish;
or by them we drown.
Tim Cutler is a sculptor, dog juggler and part-time horologist. He has been published by Cyphers (Dublin) and Knulp Press (Brighton), and performs his work regularly with spoken word groups. In 1998 he was awarded a South East Arts Writers’ Bursary. He is currently studying at the European Film College, Denmark.
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