Today’s choice
Previous poems
Annabelle Markwick-Staff
Olympics
I devoured the Olympics, filled my mouth
and scrapbook with sticky ephemera.
I stalked a torch, seized my shining,
perforated prey, and stared into the void
of Wenlock and Mandeville’s eyes.
Sometimes, I am in the Olympics. I crawl
from my bed to my desk, and I sweat for gold.
I clutch my bottle of Lucozade
Sport Fruit Punch – Apple vs Raspberry,
my knuckles stark beneath desiccated skin.
I suckle Isotonic hydration from pink plastic,
electrolytes and athlete images fuel
my endurance, my metaphysical marathon.
Yes, Anthony Joshua, I will Stay Humble –
from Gallions Reach to Avalon,
I have many hills to spiral, many petals to burn.
Annabelle Markwick-Staff graduated with an MA in Writing Poetry from the Poetry School/ Newcastle University. Her poems are published in Popshot, Kindred Spirit, London Grip, Sage Cigarettes and Black Bough Poetry Christmas-Winter Anthology Volume 4. She is annabelleocto on Instagram.
Oz Hardwick
Oz Hardwick is a European poet, photographer, occasional musician, and accidental academic, who has published ten chapbooks and collections, and loads more interesting stuff with other people. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Leeds Trinity University.
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