Silent Comedy Father and son both dressed as Charlie Chaplin. waddling past the cafe, stop, a twirl of opportunity and they waddle over, begging cup tingling under every nose. Nobody knows their farce: how long it took to wash off the dust and blood, memories of fractured cities, sights blasted into memory. Now two poorly painted faces: felt-tip side burns and moustaches. Why Chaplin? Does the boy know him? At the last table a spit of angry German from the tattooed young woman, ending in Deutschland! The father Chaplin calmly breaks a vow of silence, thanks Germany, tugs his son onwards, cane twirling. #20, Spring 2018. The Old Man in the Café Bazar, Salzburg White receding hair, face lined in tectonic plates of sorrow forcing layers of life inwards. He sits alone, staring out the window. Jumps with a start if you look at him as if recognising a lost friend or his doppelganger fossilising. An elderly woman waddles over. He erupts into life, smile explode, laughter bubbling. His wife? No, just a friend sitting at another table. They exchange awareness of being still alive, then she recedes. He sinks back into coffee grounds. She leaves. For a last moment he is flowing again: smiles, a wave, then solidifying. A tremor when the waitress arrives, He pays, tips, smiles, crumbles. #21, Spring 2018.
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Poetry Biography:I have had over 70 poems published in the following worldwide magazines and literary journals: A Handful of Stones, Acta Victoriana (Canada), All the Sins (UK), The Amethyst Review (USA), Amsterdam Quarterly (NL) The Blue Nib (Ireland), Bolts of Silk, Borderless Journal, The Brasilia Review (Brazil), Bushfire Literature & Arts Review (US), Cadenza, Cake Magazine, Carillon, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong), DASH (USA), Clackamas Literary Review (USA), Cooch Behar Anthology, Dawntreader, Dreamcatcher, The Dillydoun Review, Earth Love, The Ear (US), Eastlit (East Asia), Erbacce, Envoi, Finger Dance Festival, Ginosko, Gloom Cupboard, Hidden Channel, Inlandia Journal, IS&T (Ink, Sweat & Tears), Into the Void (Canada), The Journal, The Lakeview Journal (India), Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Lunch Ticket (USA) The New Writer, One Hand Clapping, Orbis, Oregon English Journal (USA), The Passage Between, Prole, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Sonic Boom (India), Third Wednesday (USA), Of Nepalese Clay (Nepal), New Contrast (South Africa), One Hand Clapping, Opportunity Publishing, The Oregon English Journal (USA) Origami Poems Project (USA), The Paddock Review (USA), Panoplyzine (USA), Paper Swan Press, The Passage Between, The Peacock Journal (USA), Pens on Fire, Poetry Salzburg (Austria), Potomac Review, (USA) Prole, Pulsar Poetry, Rear View Poetry, Queen Mob's Teahouse, Qutub Minar Review (India), Red Ink, Shiela-Na-Gig (USA), South Bank Poetry Magazine, Stand, Waterford Teachers Centre, (Ireland) We Are a Website New Literary Journal (Singapore), Weber - The Contemporary West Review (USA), Windfall (USA), Writing Magazine, Words for the Wild and Verbal Art (India). Archives
March 2024
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