Guangzhou
Welcome to the city cave, stalagmites of steel and concrete, we all fossilise inside or melt outside in acidic rain. Endless beeping, lights that gigolo the night bouncing purple light off low cloud or suffocating smog; you give up trying to know which. Wear a mask, soldier on. From a distance that city looks entombed. Commuting meets archaeology, you chisel your way home, down through damp layers of your chest. Aching head, sore eyes, screaming alveoli’s. Think of the residents, the real victims. Progress is lung cancer. Bet on a Blue Sky Unlikely to be found outside with the grey huff of Mainland coughing up over Macau. Take shelter in the world’s biggest casino as if the chances of winning, breathing healthily can be guaranteed. Dive below to the fake Venice: a shallow golden canal, Gondolas singing with well-tipped pride, punting along the sterile water bordered by high class Boutiques topped with pretend historical awnings, curving up, around into the painted blue sky ceiling smeared with clouds to dazzle shop-drunk tourists snapping smartphone pics of mime artists defying gravity. Above, the 24 hour chiming fates but no one betting on a blue sky, just factory-filled air and denial. In Eastlit, 2016.
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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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