Bob Cooper
Before the Last Bus for Alston
After watching the shoving we heard the first punch.
Then his hood came down, the beard came off,
and his red coat ripped when one, a Tyneside Roman,
grabbed him, head-butted him twice. Then he slumped,
just lay there as the kicking began. It was Auden.
Nowt changes for ye, does it? Now be telled.
Then his sack was upended and they crouched down,
shook then pocketed some parcels, swapped others,
but the large one wouldn’t fit under anyone’s coat.
Laughter, until the smallest, dressed like Franco, looked up
and, grinning, staggered over to me. Take it, he hissed.
It was thick gold paper with a red ribbon, and heavy.
He waits. I smell his beer. The bus doors swish open.
I don’t refuse. How can I. It’s Christmas.
Page(s) 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