John W. Sexton
Handbag to the Moon
intravenous micro-
hippocampus … an ocean
enters the mind
for my love
a skirt of spinning stars ...
a slip of space beneath it
Doctor, light the atom ...
a note troubled
from the fallen piano
the threshold appeared doorless ...
nailed the sky in place
with twenty ravens
not atmosphere as we thought …
ghosts fill our lungs
and haunt our every breath
first the falling cuckoos
then the broken cogs
of the stars
we send her handbag
to the moon ...
inside it everything
ate through the door
of the chocolate prison ...
returned for another bite
The Nothingness Kit
a heart cold from un
-requited passion … all days
are nights to the sun
they married and lived
in a chestnut … ate promises
from tins
death an even number ...
moths ambidextrous
in their embrace of flame
the coal sculpture stallions
burned for days …
we reddened in their beauty
those lips so kissable ...
briars trip
from her tongue
empty yourselves of hope …
the nothingness kit
comes minus instructions
land mime …
with a scissors of two fingers
she snips a nowhere
Dr Dosomething ...
the bedbugs send representatives
to the king
John W. Sexton lives in the Republic of Ireland and is the author of five poetry collections, the most recent being The Offspring of the Moon (Salmon Poetry, 2013). Under the ironic pseudonym of Sex W. Johnston he has recorded an album with legendary Stranglers frontman, Hugh Cornwell, entitled Sons Of Shiva, which has been released on Track Records. He is a past nominee for The Hennessy Literary Award and his poem The Green Owl won the Listowel Poetry Prize 2007. In 2007 he was awarded a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry.
previous page contents next page
Handbag to the Moon
intravenous micro-
hippocampus … an ocean
enters the mind
for my love
a skirt of spinning stars ...
a slip of space beneath it
Doctor, light the atom ...
a note troubled
from the fallen piano
the threshold appeared doorless ...
nailed the sky in place
with twenty ravens
not atmosphere as we thought …
ghosts fill our lungs
and haunt our every breath
first the falling cuckoos
then the broken cogs
of the stars
we send her handbag
to the moon ...
inside it everything
ate through the door
of the chocolate prison ...
returned for another bite
The Nothingness Kit
a heart cold from un
-requited passion … all days
are nights to the sun
they married and lived
in a chestnut … ate promises
from tins
death an even number ...
moths ambidextrous
in their embrace of flame
the coal sculpture stallions
burned for days …
we reddened in their beauty
those lips so kissable ...
briars trip
from her tongue
empty yourselves of hope …
the nothingness kit
comes minus instructions
land mime …
with a scissors of two fingers
she snips a nowhere
Dr Dosomething ...
the bedbugs send representatives
to the king
John W. Sexton lives in the Republic of Ireland and is the author of five poetry collections, the most recent being The Offspring of the Moon (Salmon Poetry, 2013). Under the ironic pseudonym of Sex W. Johnston he has recorded an album with legendary Stranglers frontman, Hugh Cornwell, entitled Sons Of Shiva, which has been released on Track Records. He is a past nominee for The Hennessy Literary Award and his poem The Green Owl won the Listowel Poetry Prize 2007. In 2007 he was awarded a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry.
posted by mark young at 9:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home