Donna Ryan
For the Entity
​
The thread of my threnody,
weaving hot lines along my thighs like my lovers used to ...
My constant companion,
I never thought I'd welcome you in the way I do...
etching your presence into my face,
gifting me the blessed recognition of others.
how EASILY I used to walk you into submission,
till you were a mere shadow of yourself:
now, I am a shadow of me, and you fill my spaces
steamlike, solid yet nebulous
too dense to see through but too flimsy to hold,
you are the most tangible presence in my reality...
I submit to the weight of you,
sinking into the unexpected softness,
a candy-floss layer between me and the outside world,
yet even you've changed, betraying me
morphed, melted, no solid ache,
no heat I can hold, cup my hands around,
map in my mind...if you leave,
I have nothing, so I walk into your world,
willing you to ensconce me,
take me under,
enfold me until nothing exists but the pure fruit of you,
and me at the core
feeding you,
growing you..
and I name you
My pain
Forever
untitled
If I could write like you,
I would speak of the balance of delicacy and fire
shifting through all emotions
not resort to the imitation of your imagery
Tell how it feels with a world in my heart
and a shimmering wing in my brain
fluttering across my vision and taking everything with it
Enfolded opening at the edges of my boundaries
honed sharp and fine as cheesewire
the terrible beauty too big to contain
spilling out through my ears
leaking through my skin
the residue sweet and sharp as over-ripe plums
snatching seconds out of a universe
slivers of silver shiver down my spine
the creak of your strings
wet wooden sailboats in the wind
the storm and the eye of the storm and the storm ozone
crackle of fire across my scalp
prickling burning begging for the rain
the downpour bursts through the floodgates
and i rise into it
Open and open-mouthed and unafraid
Matt Nunn
Grotbag Laureate of Heavy Metal Land
After finding I had unwittingly gone big with the bucks and gob
at the auction of other people’s version of our society’s mutual history,
splurging all my spiritual savings for the next life or two
on the poetic mining rights for the cheeringly grim-skied state of Digbeth.
I create its unruly sovereignty from the frantic movements through its static,
the bangs, whacks and wallops of its happening,
the way its melancholy settles in rust and re-birth,
into a demonic vision of a downbeat, imperfect sprawl of heaven
Wazir
Love is Best Behind a Veil
Love is best behind a veil
I hope I do not fail
Eyes that wonder with change
Seeking passion in great number
I hope I do not fail
Find a partner you can change
Seeking passion in great number
Make sure they stay in range
Find a partner you can change
Don’t avenge your inhibitions
Make sure they stay in range
Learn to be me and you
Don’t avenge your inhibitions
Don’t end up in a stew
Learn to be me and you
Life’s a fool, so are you
Don’t end up in a stew
Eyes that wonder with change
Life’s a fool and so are you
Love is best behind a veil