Kieran drew out my prompt at Worcester Writers’ Circle and has written this splendid poem about the de Barros image.
Picture by Andre Martin de Barros
Poem prompt from Polly, https://journalread.com/
Fantastic Realism
The glance of the lance,
drawing the eye to the lie
as it draws blood
by chance, a flood of art,
infested by those contested,
yet able
to play
at my empty table.
Unstable, the knight errant,
A deterrent
for would be kings,
mere inklings,
sheer inklings,
dear inklings.
This poem was short listed for the Paragram Poetry Prize in 2013. I was invited to Covent Garden to read both this and the long listed ‘Hobgoblin Trees.’ Tonight I’m posting it for dVerse, where we have Kelly behind the bar. Kelly’s asked us about scents that linger, ‘Latent’ fits the criteria.
Grey, receding,
the fragrance of his shaving gel.
He carries an iPad.
The first thing to leave
is the light of his eyes.
I touch his absence;
a disembodied voice, ‘see you later.’
There are magical contortions
made by dust motes,
they swirl in the sunbeams that
pour through the east window,
and echo, ‘later, later.’
I still feel the tweed jacket,
rough against my fingers,
it lingers with his shadow in the room.
Polly Stretton © 2016
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