Firewood
They tell us that we are grown from the same soil
our hands will all bleed in the right place
a hidden resonance behind wry smiles
placed inside dormitories and suitcases.
If we are from the same soil and root
why is one hand much older than the other?
Our blood the colour of firewood
we drink from the same water
never sipping from the same cup;
share words from the Lord’s prayer
told that we stem from one another
which one will withdraw the blade?
before others replace the pyre;
Count the fallen stumps of brothers
tell us that we are grown from the same soil,
our hands will all bleed in the right place.
Matt Duggan was born in Bristol 1971 and now lives in Newport, Wales with his partner Kelly, his poems have appeared in many journals such as Potomac Review, Foxtrot Uniform, Dodging the Rain, Here Comes Everyone, Osiris Poetry Journal, The Blue Nib, The Poetry Village, The Journal, The Dawntreader, The High Window, Marble, Polarity In 2019 Matt was one of the winners of the Naji Naaman Literary Prize (Honours for Complete Works) and his second full collection “Woodworm” (Hedgehog Poetry Press) was published in July 2019, he has a new small collection of twenty five poems called “The Kingdom” (Maytree Press) coming out in April (2020).