Ben Parker (pictured) was born in Worcester in 1982. He
studied Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Exeter and completed a creative writing MA at the University of East Anglia in 2008. He
now lives and works in Oxford.
His poetry has appeared in a number of magazines, including The White Review, Under the Radar and Oxford Poetry, as well as Lung Jazz: Young British Poets for Oxfam. His debut pamphlet, The Escape Artists, was published by tall-lighthouse in October 2012 and shortlisted for the 2013 Michael Marks Award.
His poetry has appeared in a number of magazines, including The White Review, Under the Radar and Oxford Poetry, as well as Lung Jazz: Young British Poets for Oxfam. His debut pamphlet, The Escape Artists, was published by tall-lighthouse in October 2012 and shortlisted for the 2013 Michael Marks Award.
Endings
Allotments.
Shattered chimney stacks.
A
black bag tangled like a crow
in
the leafless tree. As you walk
beyond
the last of the deserted
red-brick
factory buildings
the
city rusts around you. The river
thins
to a stream that could be forded
by
a fallen branch. This is a place
of
past tenses, an archaeology
of
skeletal bikes, single gloves
and
bleached cans of beer
the
supermarkets no longer stock.
Spent
matches hint at flame on flesh.
The
rituals of childhood. Something
small and broken in the grass.
poem COPYRIGHT THE POET 2014.
Comments