Fascinating poetry, full of grit and astute observation. Each poem has a vivid story to tell, sometimes funny, sometimes outrageous, always insightful and politically aware. You feel disarmed as the poems take stabs at life’s messy muddle and the evils of society. This is a razor-sharp collage enlightened with comedy and wide-awake reflection.
Tiff’s got me against the school railings, doing
my eyeliner. In double French, I’d whispered,
Your eyes. Will you make mine like that? – slice
through a room, a lie, a man – Break time
her body on mine, stoosh then soft; sugar
on the tongue of all she hasn’t done yet, all she’s
heard she could do. Already, Tiff’s a reckoning;
bomb glitter on lids, oil spills on lips, sandwiches
padding her bra. Yeah, the sandwiches.
Thick, white, unbuttered. See, Tiff’s clocked
the boys have clocked the difference between
a tissue and a tit, a sock and a tit, but not quite yet
a tit and a slice of bread. O girl, you have opened
my eyes, how they weep!
From Sandwiches
