.jpg)
Issue 14 - January / February 2009 - Poetry
A Pharmacist Fleeing Ignorance by Tyler Cobb
The pharmacist purchases tobacco on his break
And leaves the newspaper on the counter for his main customer.
His supervisor steals, then questions the pharmacist about
Missing Viagra bottles or the horse pills that only the elderly
Have legit prescriptions for, meanwhile the other employees
Sneak gulps of whiskey out of a dull bronze flask.
The icy pharmacist hates the supervisor's passive way of shifting blame
But he pretends to have no idea about the theft, confrontation would
Be impractical and he wants to drive to the beach before it gets too dark.
He lets nothing interrupt his thoughts while scribbling on a blank timesheet
Internally ironing out the world within his head, the evening light greeting
His escape and the cool air jogging his memory into a heaven of sand.
Missing You, Missing (for Romain Lannuzel, October 16th) by Jessica Winch
I am missing you, missing
Since last November
With no trace of a smile
To follow, or a gravestone
To visit and remember
How we met, the coffees shared,
The way you laughed,
And chatted to total strangers
On the train - it was a game
You liked to play, that I never
Had the chance to see.
I remember the hat you wore
On long nights out, angled to invite
Playful theft or conversation.
I remember how you were going
To fund a trip to China
Teaching students jazz piano
(I would get lessons free)
But you never got to see
The jazz quartet play every Tuesday night
The pianist’s hands a blur over the keys.
I remember the afternoon
We looked at each other differently
As a whole new world opened up
With possibility, never realized
Because we thought we had
Forever, or a year at least
To work it out. Instead, all I have
Are scattered memories tainted with
Unanswered questions
One long regret, and a longing
To call and wish you
A ‘Happy Birthday’.
Domestic Fear by Samuel Prince
Weak bleeps from the Geiger Counter,
the previous tenant left in the pantry.
A mousetrap in your mohair slippers
goes off with a marigold glove’s snap.
Two eyes meet through a keyhole, the matchbox
instructs to strike towards you.
Your one lump of Tate and Lyle is soda crystals
cubed, the Listerine is spiked with arsenic.
From the foot of the stairs. your newborn wails
and shakes the bars of their safety cage.
Just when you think you wouldn’t wish to live
in such a house, you realise you already do.
Testing the hob, you pat out percussion
on an electric plate: turn it on;
then up to three; four; and remember, the closer
they get, the warmer you are.
Blackberrying by Tamarisk Kay
The first fruits call siren like
Plump, succulent blackberries
Amongst a sea of promise
The remaining flowers wilting
Above hang pea-green ball bearings
Soon there will be chestnuts
Drooping in their morning star shells
The tips of my fingers have morphed
I have been caught red-handed
Dreaming of blackberry jam.
Christmas Poem by Andrew Burke
Long after grown-ups and the truth
proved reindeer from the sky and chimneys safe,
Christmas would frighten us.
My sister and I step out at night
on Christmas Eve, and wonder why our voices
have dropped to a whisper.
This is a night of nervous smiles
when families brave airports in the snow
to huddle together
And all the stars are asterisks
which urgently implore us to a word
forgotten or absent.
This is the night the charge has run to earth
and my electric heart will be the tree
burnt in the bracken field.
So bring the brandy and the wine,
we need to be cheered up, to be calmed down
And who shall I crown with a crepe-paper crown ?