Poetry: Selections from Lindsay McLeod

AFTERMATH

Outstretched 

on the 

leathern wings 

of this

my texture

 

worn thinned

at shoulder

by the blade's 

tight arc 

to trim 

the excess

 

letting 

the light 

enter 

through 

the laceholes

of my fear

 

a necklace 

of swallows

flying 

choker chains 

about my throat

 

there is a debt

untarnished 

regardless 

the sussuration

of my heirs

 

assuming their

terrible privilege 

wondering

the where and why 

I wept and for whom

 

the elbow

the grind and

its unwanted prize

 

pinned by 

a castrating crown

with a preposterous 

prayer uneared.

MY PERFORATION

These lesions 

that interrupt 

the swollen acts 

between us

refuse to listen

to the excuses

I use to describe 

our times.

 

I crack

each and every

egg now

lest they 

wake me

in the morning

and I've started

sleeping late so 

I won't gouge

the eyes 

from the sky.

 

I have taken

my pride 

by the hand 

and marched us

from where

we last fell

feeling only 

that I should 

get out

 

before the pain 

destroys me

before the drop

after the shot

and before the 

Wilhelm scream.

WHAT IT'S WORTH

I didn't say it but the ink

blots have started to look

(I can't say why)

suspiciously like her again

 

they pull me back to 

(insert song)

and crackling feedback 

that sounds a bit like

(insert memory)

 

but the truth is I can get

more with fries and a drink

(down the Port Road)

for twelve ninety five.

Lindsay McLeod is an Australian writer who has won a coupla few awards and had poetry published internationally. Some of his most recent work can be found in DILLYDOUN REVIEW, GRAND LITTLE THINGS, DRAWN TO THE LIGHT, POETiCA and MORTAL MAGAZINE.