Ink Sweat & Tears - the poetry & prose webzine

Patsy Goodsir doesn't want to hear the 'C' word till December

Charles Christian — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:13:32 +0000

Relax, it's not that 'c' word – it's the Christmas 'c' word – and here's a photo Patsy took this time last year near Kelso in the Scottish Borders country...

JINGLE BELLS

I cannot, will not,
use the "C" word.
Not when it's still November.

I switch channels
when the jingles start,
time enough for that.

I sound as though I hate it,
but I love it,
right time, right place.

Little faces,
lots of laughter,
fat cats and dogs.

* Patsy Goodsir is a regular IS&T contributor who warns "Never sleep with an elephant. he might roll over". www.patsygoodsir.com

Mike Carson remembers when there was us

Charles Christian — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:44:28 +0000

III - Us

There have been 18,800 days

of me and

7,035 days of us.

When I say goodbye to you,

I say goodbye to us and

most of me.

It was late on a Thursday evening,

early November and I was down at

the gas station helping Sara with her

paperwork and you dropped by to say hello.

You were getting impatient with me by then;

your transfer had gone through and we had already

danced and kissed and you made sure I

had the chance to run my hand down

your leg and it would have happened

that Saturday night if Sara had not got drunk

and picked a fight that Bud had to finish and

we all ended up at the jail half the night,

but with another fun story to tell, but

I never told this one,

did I?

I asked you where you were going as

you started to wander off and you

replied that you were going to

the Holiday Inn to drink schnapps and beer and

I recalled what you had said about

what that leads to on the night I saw

you tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue.

I looked at Sara and calmly asked her

what I should do.

Sara, who besides having a Psych degree,

was in San Fran in the summer of ’67 and

on a farm in upstate New York in the summer of ’69.

From the moment I hired her,

we started teaching each other.

We certainly both got each other immediately.

Sara looked at me and uttered the immortal words;

“Shit or get off the pot.”

I ran into your arms and

all of our tomorrows.

We got schnapps and beer and took it

to my place and sat on the floor and starting watching

LA Law and

never made it anywhere near the

end.

* Mike Carson lives in Tennessee. This is the third part of a much longer poem – called Goodbye – that he plans to close out his upcoming collection Sunset Memories. (And yes he is currently looking for the best publishing options.) You can find out more about Mike's work here www.myspace.com/mcarson2

Joe Wyatt sees her wearing red shoes

Charles Christian — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:36:20 +0000

Dorothy

When I hear your name,
I see a girl in red shoes.
Then, a wilted body
in a net of plastic tubes,
arms a patchwork of bruises:
blue like your summer dress,
purple like the stains on my fingers
after picking blackberries in your back yard.

* Joe Wyatt is a third year creative writing student at Norwich University College of the Arts. He co-edited and contributed to NUCA's Veto #4 magazine.

Tanner's still got coins in his pocket.

Charles Christian — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:51:10 +0000

Tar, Gin

It was night,
the pubs were closed

he got me at the bus stop,
said I better give him his bus fare

said he’d heard the slummy
rattling in my pocket

and if I didn’t give him it
he’d deck me one good and proper

so me,
I punched myself
right in the face
really fucking hard

harder than I meant to

and he stood there
in the dark rain
lost,

let me walk on.

In the morning
I’d lost a filling,
my jaw had come up
and I had a puddle
of gin sick
drying on my face

but that £2.42
was still in my jeans.

I tried looking at them
for pride’s sake
but all those rusty little silhouettes
of the rusty little queen
made me queasy.

* Tanner says... "Congealed Anfield, 84 ... currently festering within the shadows of society, taking verbal photos of the subsequent horror ... i am always always watching you ..." Tanner's new chapbook Alright, Squire? is out now from Last Chance Before Bath-time Publications

When Competitions become Kudos

Charles Christian — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Quick mention here for poet, writer and journalist Carole Baldock who has now taken over the UK's old Competitions Bulletin magazine and relaunched it as Kudos. Published six times a year, this is the definitive guide to current UK (plus many overseas) poetry and short story competitions. It also covers novels, anthologies, plays and non-fiction. Definitely worth the cost of £3 per issue (£18 for 6 issues – overseas €25 or $35 pa) – not least as it carries lots of flyers & entry forms you'd otherwise have to send away for with SAEs etc. The November issue is out now, the next one is scheduled for January 2010. For details write to (or send a sterling cheque – payable to Carole Baldock) 17 Greenhow Avenue, West Kirby, Wirral CH48 5EL or visit www.kudoswritingcompetitions.com