Carrion Kisses

I should’ve seen the black

dirt under your fingernails,

or smelt the perfume lingering

at your neck.

 

But your elbow, touching mine as we sat watching Countdown, kept you hidden in my laugh, in the twinkle of a sigh.

 

You came home late once,

brought me roses. Every

kiss a kitten-scratch on my

cheek, piercing, reddening.

 

But your fingers, lacing mine as we walked through the museum, quoting Shakespeare and Keats, made me smile through a cry.

 

You’d bite blood oranges through

their flesh, peel back the rind

like the skin from my lips, sucking

rubies between your gap-tooth.

 

But your scent, clouding me as we lay on sticky sheets at 4am, got caught on my tongue. I forgot the black eye.

 

Published by Turbulence Magazine: Issue 10

http://www.turbulencepoetry.blogspot.co.uk/

Olympic Torch Poetry

It’s been and gone, but the warmth of the event still lingers round the streets of York.

Here is the poetry that was tweeted during the York Torch Run 2012.

http://yorkstories2012.com/2012/06/york-torch-tweets-the-build-up/

http://yorkstories2012.com/2012/06/york-olympic-torch-relay-twitter-poems-along-the-way/#more–

Enjoy!

Cot

I remember times when you would cough,

splutter back cups of milky cream.

 

The curdled cries after your fall

and cleaning rivulets from a cut

 

that gushed with pain. Red and slick

I could stomach, but it was the tired look

 

in your eyes, the mum we need to talk,

that made me stop and notice the lost tick

 

of the clock. Against your age I fought

to keep my baby in her cot.

 

Published by Pastiche Magazine

Highly commended in the York Writers Poetry Competition

6.10am

6.10am

 

sleep stares back

from the ceiling.

crusted lids cemented

like the day-old weetabix

in your unwashed bowl.

I watch the resurfacing of your breath,

the decay of your dreams

in the crinkle of your eyes,

amazed to find

you survived the night.

 

Published by Indigo Rising US: Issue 23