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14th Anniversary Edition, Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Three Nov-Dec 2023.
Paper & Blades, poems by Les Wicks.
Paper & Blades
Living in a book
I know I’ve read before.
No sign of finale, the characters forgettable.
Any conflict is a murmur like
mewling dog-eared leaves that saw
too much time under the thumb.
Prevarication is a clumsy bookmark.
News comes in from university,
it’s all about the plot.
But another predictable crash
does not draw people back to the page.
I’ve tried fraud, suicide
& a grand old caper.
I guess your murder is the last twist available.
Surrender Terms
Perhaps we all outgrow our dreams.
Feed our bodies
while futures starve.
I can’t complain. Can anybody?
This temporary breath we carry,
truly borrowed
as the kiln warms up to host our cinders.
This mercy-fuck of bone & gristle
will all be over soon.
We shuck existence at the doorways
of anything next.
Like tie-dyes & flares
those aspirations I wore
were just another fad.
IMO There is the touch… now.
Forgotten more than I failed.
Remembered more than ever happened.
There is love tomorrow.
Cronulla Beach, a light northerly breeze.
The Covenant
God-things reached down & took the water.
It rose, abject. The People were shocked
at this weak surrender.
Where did it end up?
Maybe it just sat in the sky & watched
the arguments that arise from thirst.
Or perhaps there is some new lake
plotting life in an unpeopled region.
After all the hankering
the god-things gave them fire
which rippled & flowed just like their river.
They were not satisfied, this wild appetite
outran their own.
Certain it was not their fault
they face the future
armed only with incendiaries.
Pray, that’s what you do
when you can’t do nothing.
© Les Wicks
Les Wicks Over 45 years Wicks has performed widely across the globe. Published in over 400 different magazines, anthologies & newspapers across 36 countries in 15 languages. Conducts workshops & runs Meuse Press which focuses on poetry outreach projects like poetry on buses & poetry published on the surface of a river. His 15th book of poetry is Time Taken – New & Selected (Puncher & Wattmann, 2022). https://leswicks.tripod.com/lw.htm