Spike
the orphan child
waited on sundays
at the gate
boggled by the hinges
a self-employed hugger
of sheep
he has the hard agile hands
of a maker do
itchy scalp
pheasant in the sack
footsteps rolling across the snow
going home for Christmas Day
Gareth Writer-Davies is a gardener from Letchworth. Widely published over the last few years and runner up and short-listed for a couple of prizes, he hopes to get his first pamphlet published in 2014.
The last Christmas carol
She sits on the cold asphalt –
In the middle of a square,
Strumming a wooden guitar
That will brittle soon.
Velvet poles are dazed,
A copper centaur listens
And the glimmer of distant houses
Are her thousand spotlights.
Perhaps this would be the last year
She’ll breathe the icy air
Or see the stars melt
Across the silky sky.
Life is the tiny candle
Flaring beneath her face
But tonight her music will reach –
The edges of the winter moon.
Romalyn Ante is originally from the Philippines but now live in the West Midlands. Her works have appeared in The Wolf (University of Wolverhampton Magazine), the anthology We’re All In This Together (Offa’s Press), The Cannon’s Mouth Issue 47, and Blakenhall Words. She has also performed her poetry at Wolverhampton ‘City Voices’ and Stafford Arts Festival 2013.