21st century poets

House Call | Bryn Fortey

“i have this deal of death about my hands”
(Ray Bremser, in the poem “Blood”)

I had another fall this week
only two paces from door to bed
but the sudden darkness
threw me off kilter and down I went

as with previous falls
I went down easily
and did no real damage
scraping some skin off a leg
but thankfully missing the bed post

my daughter and great-grandson
had to take an arm each
and haul me to my feet
Nathan had heard the bump
and come running
he’s like a mother hen with me
and I’m a fluffy little chick
in dire need of protection

it left me shaken and feeling woozy
for a day or two
which is par for the course
I feel quite vulnerable at such times
wondering if this might be when
old Doc Death might pack his bag
in readiness for a house call

the scrawny buzzard
hasn’t made it here yet though

The World Is Too Little | Mónika Tóth

dedicated to my nice Romanian friend Vasile
your name so unique
I swear
your eyes so sweet
I swear
your lips so soft
I swear
you are beautiful for me
I swear
without you
the world is too little
I swear

Time Travels the Highway | Matthew Borczon

I’m calling
home through
my car
radio tonight
calling the
wallflowers
who sit
alone at
high school
dances
calling the
young mothers
who couldn’t
go at all
I am
feeling you
all on
these old
songs and
dark roads
tonight I
am again
the boy
alone on
the bleachers
looking for
someone to
see past
my plastic
sneakers and
thrift store
shirt someone
to wipe
the dust
off my
glasses and
see something
other than
the weird
kid with
one foot
already
out the
door

Discography (After Philip Larkin) | Jim Bellamy

At last, she yielded up her record, which,
Scratched, glossed upon its deck, days thick.
Oh, matted with its bakelite, the slick
Defections of glib music spin to live.

Lies smoke the words of these ‘stereo-images‘.
My living eye must hanker after sound-
With ponytails colliding with the moon,
I lift my heady head against true noise
And bask in torpor as rock-sounds display
The quietus of a classroom, punk-sprayed.

With every single speaker, darkness flows
Down the drains of melodies and crows
‘Your candour thus infers a classic tune
Whence gladness springs its singing from
Out the fields; and tapes will prize rooms’
From contractions rolling to a red drum,
Simply by feeling old and out of date,
Girls must wash their feet inside a pop-state
Of self-loathing; thence this white-room lays
The censors of an album, wide and loud.

Washing-lines in towns define cries
And music must confer with bubble-wrapped
Compact-discs that scheme the snapped.
Ah, we whisk aside the jazz of sense
And drive the blemished towers of hell-sent
Lyrics, making meagre passions mourn
The sea-shelves of an oven-heated song.

In short, from eye to eye, pink dance will send
Pennies from the skies of sensual croons.
These lakes of sinning dancing thrash
And smaller clearings break their livid tunes.
This schizophrenic tale is now unveiled,
Bricked in the boiling with dream-key ‘2-2.’

More at https://www.jamesbellamy.org.

Camping Out | Mary Bone

You rolled up in your
ancestor’s cover,
hoping to stay warm in the night.
Your toes became uncovered.
Chill bumps popped up
as you looked up at the canopy
of stars.

Potluck Poetry | Mary Bone

The poetry was potluck.
I brought something to chew on.
People were dozing off and
falling off chairs.
We took our leftovers home,
to gnaw on another day.

One Day | Fotoula Reynolds

I will climb to your highest point
I will stand at columns so grand
I will trace your footsteps in the sand
And my eyes will drink your Aegean beauty

I will take in your serene landscape
I will slow down and bask in the
Warmth of your summer sun and
I will drench myself in your fine wine

I will take a deep breath
I will feel your gentle sea breeze caress my skin
I Will sail along your canal and
I will carry your songs that serenade me

I will drift through the night sky
On a vessel under your stars
I will walk through your history
And you will show me another time

More at https://www.facebook.com/fotoula.reynolds.

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