Almost nothing
To impress you, I became
a seven-year-old son of Sparta.
A little hard man, crayon
marching down the page.
Favourite colour – Grey.
Favourite animal – Snake.
Favourite food – Bread.
Favourite drink – Water.
Favourite TV show – Starsky and Hutch.
You loved to quote me,
adding a mock snarl as you
tolled out my classroom responses.
Throwing your head back
on the fifth beat –
my beloved brunette bell,
peals of laughter ringing out
in celebration of what you had made.
Looking back I get the joke
but also read beneath the bravado
of that tiny militant hand
the coded message that
you failed to see. Slipped,
between the bars of solitary,
a description of the conditions
inside. A vow that my entire life
I would stop
at almost nothing,
to be loved by you.
Paul Fenn‘s poem’s have been long listed three times in the UK National poetry competition and once in The Plough poetry prize and he has most recently had poems published in Ink, Sweat &Tears, Allegro, One Hand Clapping, The Frogmore Papers, Obsessed with Pipework, Dreich Magazine and Dodging the Rain.