Poetry Creative writing compiled and edited by Ade Jackson

I Murdered Jack Kerouac ........by Sam Gill

I put the mercury in his wine
bribed the coroner, 'print the legend',
took care of his sainthood.

Street mind blown on alcohol, tired of the visions,
in Ma's house away from the beat,
sneaked in among the manuscripts,
and writing another last page.

I wanted his spoils,
already full of his problems,
his Catholic-Buddhist contradictions,
A life full of fictions,
where did quiet time tick away?

When someone ties
you to the mast,
like you tore them,
ripped flags flown,
does the kick backfire?
Petrol gauge run low on empty highway?
Couldn't you have shaken hands with
the rope long enough to hang yrself?

I wrote his stories, alongside mine,
I lived his life,
alongside mine,
I put the mercury in his wine.

Premonition ........by Matthew Pendleton

There's no hope of utopia
In our present circumstance.
More reason to eat
and drink. When
the light goes out
I will not be here.

This goes out to
all the future children
packed up and
ready to go.
Noise
Is in their ears
And it will not go out.

How to Demolish a House ........by Clare Shaw

Start with the swing and the slide,
hide the miniature cars and
the trike with the squeak.

Bury the gnome.
rip the ivy out from the brick,
cut the hedge right back

to its root. Strip all the fruit from the tree.
Open the door to the greenhouse.
Wait for frost.

Pick a fistful of stones.
Take out the birds at the table
one by one.

Cut down the lines to the phone.
Scrape off the name
from its plate. Dunrovin.

Erect a high fence to deter intervention.
Dig out the foundation. Observe
the slump of the roof like tarpaulin.

How the rain pools
where the cat used to watch in the morning.
Plough up the garden.

Ignore the old bones, the pink panic
of worms. Step across
the limp grey felt of the moles.

Now the black crows rise
like bad news.
Steal the spare keys.

Don't make a noise. Avoid
the tangle of boots in the hallway.
The shadows of coats on their hooks.

Now place a small bomb.
Don't mention a thing.
Don't warn anyone.