{"id":1095,"date":"2007-11-03T09:41:27","date_gmt":"2007-11-03T09:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1095"},"modified":"2007-11-03T09:41:27","modified_gmt":"2007-11-03T09:41:27","slug":"two-poems-by-amanda-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/two-poems-by-amanda-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Two poems by Amanda Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caroline Street<\/span>

Curry and chips?<\/span>
Mmmmmmmm<\/span>
Queue<\/span>
Shove <\/span>
Push<\/span>
Fight<\/span>
Coppers<\/span>
Cell<\/span>
You\u2019ve had your chips<\/span>


Tanked for the memories<\/span>

Down and out on all-day bender<\/span>
I recognise your voice<\/span>
Before I even turn round.<\/span>
\u201cOi, nutter!\u201d you call<\/span>
\u201cPint of lager and lime and a packet of cheese and onion?\u201d<\/span>
It\u2019s as though we saw each other yesterday \u2013 <\/span>
Not fifteen years ago.<\/span>

We drink and laugh<\/span>
At funny things we did together,<\/span>
Talk of the places where we used to mosh \u2013 <\/span>
All of which demolished now,<\/span>
Replaced by the New Cardiff,<\/span>
A place we can\u2019t afford to live.<\/span>

We reminisce about the music we loved<\/span>
Now called \u201cold skool\u201d<\/span>
And the musicians we wanted to be<\/span>
Now called \u201cveteran rockers\u201d<\/span>
And feel old. And long to go back<\/span>
And listen to Anthrax.<\/span>

You laugh at the make-up I wore<\/span>
And joke that my skirts resembled belts<\/span>
And mock my taste in boys.<\/span>
You seem to remember everything about me<\/span>
Except one crucial thing \u2013 <\/span>
\u201cWhy did we stop being friends?\u201d you ask<\/span>

I pretend I can\u2019t remember<\/span>
I don\u2019t want this good day ruined,<\/span>
But you had a new girlfriend called Donna<\/span>
Who didn\u2019t like the fact that you had female friends.<\/span>
When I phoned you, upset, you asked me not to call again<\/span>
For fear of upsetting Donna. Fifteen years have passed.<\/span>

I\u2019m glad you didn\u2019t end up with her<\/span>
And that your new woman has no problem<\/span>
With you having female friends.<\/span>
Theoretically, we could be friends again,<\/span>
Realistically, I can\u2019t be arsed.<\/span>
But thanks for the beers, Neil.<\/span>


\u2022 Amanda Weeks lives in Pontypridd, South Wales with husband Carlos, four-year-old son Travis and a cat called Rita. She began writing eight years ago when, at 27, she decided to pack in her job as a collector, invent a pile of A levels and study creative writing and drama at university. She has had several short stories published in anthologies. She has written for several music magazines. Her Welsh-language screenplay Catastroffi<\/span> was broadcast on S4C in 2006, and she's had a further two screenplays optioned to Tornado Films. She recently came third in the Welsh Poetry Competition. She is currently writing a novel, and is adding to her poetry and short story collections. She is currently working as a supply teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni. Previously, she's worked as a drama tutor and as an actress. This is her first appearance on IS&T.<\/span>

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caroline StreetCurry and chips?MmmmmmmmQueueShove PushFightCoppersCellYou\u2019ve had your chipsTanked for the memoriesDown and out on all-day benderI recognise your voiceBefore I even turn round.\u201cOi, nutter!\u201d you call\u201cPint of lager and lime and a packet of cheese and onion?\u201dIt\u2019s as though we saw each other yesterday \u2013 Not fifteen years ago.We drink and laughAt funny things we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}