Shearsman 62: Chris McCabe: 3 Poems

Shearsman 62

Chris McCabe

Three Poems

1

can we snap the claws of bitterness out of an ideology of bitterness?
too many decisions made from – not enough tokens – the backs of cereal boxes
then the dead letterbox wait, frustrated piss, desperate into a thumbnail petri-dish
defining song lyric of the century at last defined
you radiate cold shafts of broken glass
flagged in playback over-voiced with "SCOLD"
took a step back as news shrapnelled in from the suburbs
like breath blown back from an untied balloon
I was glad to be here then – seemed crystal, amazed –
when you tried to pin the non-animal tail of suicide onto a break-up network

11.5

tension tight as a button, a whistle, a kilt-belt
two of them there, wet-reflected
in square slabs by the washed car,
in the bird-harangue of the pizza-centre
using the non-lubricated slit of the atm
in an ankle race with a railing rat
towards the midge-heat of the red light
– friday night, uncork, relax –
let's go where we get safe,
testosterone turned wheel of the week
unregisters as an abacus would, say,
for urban sports

when they write about trains they're talking about time

grind black smoke to field-gold
sky the shapes left by the trees
& shadows snap time
if time was twigs imagined
shadowy, in a thought –
industrial bric-a-brac
on the edge, estates
where freedom is a ball & children
we cut through such green
I was led to believe was gone
inside the train
middle-class courting begins
through the medium of a crossword
"expelled", six letters, begins with 'o'
I think omitted – shit – too many & wrong
he says "ousted"
– I never think straight between places –
without spite, know he's right

London to Liverpool, 30 July 2004

Chris McCabe was born in Liverpool in 1977. He has published poems in a number of places including Poetry Salzburg Review; Angel Exhaust and Great Works. He currently works as Assistant Librarian at the Poetry Library, London. His first book, The Hutton Inquiry, will appear from Salt Publishing this year.