Alasdair Patterson
Opium
1
the blue sky is
spotted with white
is calm water brimming over
2
beneath the bright
and slightly trembling landscape
holding aloft the coloured cards
composing this fine picture
are a million
well-trained children
trying valiantly
not to move
3
orange trees
in the dry gardens
struggle with a harsh regime
blaze
hymns of revolution
4
in the observatory
in the pine grove we hear
the singing voices of the sea
the pines melt into the sea
the sea melts into the sun
the sun melts
into everything
5
as we drink
bottle necks
unravel
and water
falls in
ruins
by the cliff
pavilion
6
there are openings
here in the river
stepping stones lead to them
and there will be
spacious rooms for everyone
and polished floors
and warm applause
where the water runs deep
7
tables covered with
white seagulls
in the country of morning calm
Page(s) 24-25
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