Poetry

Simon Hayes

By

Matthew J Hall

human indictment

I was trying to write a poem

about the repugnance of humanity

I’d gotten a few good jabs and swings in

when I looked up from my writer’s table

and saw, across the street

a parked car

in the back

dressed in electric pink

a young lady was dancing

with her shoulders and arms

she had a cigarette in her mouth

her only concern was the moment

in a swift and seamless movement

she shoved an umbrella out the open window

opened it and gave it a twist and a twirl

in its shade I could see the girl

in the front passenger seat

she was dancing also

I looked down

tore out and tore up my poem of human indictment

and wrote this one instead

turns out

humans are not so repugnant

after all

the pretty bird of her heart

left the nest

and fell prey

to a savage beast

he kept her

in the cage of his mind

where she pecked and plucked

at her own feathers

flew in tiny circles

landed

flew in tiny circles

landed

flew in tiny circles

landed

Matthew J Hall

Matthew J. Hall is a UK writer based in Bristol. His poetry chapbook, Pigeons and Peace Doves, is available through Blood Pudding Press. His full poetry collection, The Human Condition is a Terminal Illness, is available through Bareback Press. He reviews small press books at www.screamingwithbrevity.com.