The Waiting

by John Togher

Thursday 24th September 2009 2:05 pm (first posted Wednesday 23rd September 2009 6:09 pm)

I steal a pen from a stationery shop

Stroll the dark corridors of memory

Become jealous of a friend’s laughter

Think about a soap star's armpit

Smash a window in anger

Watch a dog lick his bollocks

Kill a slug

I sleep on the edge of a cloud

See pink fuzz on a clover

Burn a bed behind a house

Offer a girl her first cigarette

Ejaculate on a piano

Make fun of God-fearing people

Walk the nine circles

Throw ink at the moon

I dream of swans

Answer questions with 'truth hurts'

I count down the days

I bang in the nails

*Trying something new.

Comments

Ann Foxglove

Tue 29th Jun 2010 20:04

Hi again John - I've been reading through your poems and I like them a lot - esp this one. And you profile ones too, very much!

Anthony Emmerson

Fri 25th Sep 2009 12:22

Hi John,

I found this a really interesting and provocative read. I like the list technique - it somehow seems to make the disparate and sometimes disturbing events/images you catalogue seem humdrum when they become lost in each other. For me, it reads like a manual for "getting through the day." Watch out for the lid though . . .

Regards,
A.E.

John Darwin

Thu 24th Sep 2009 18:06

Wonderful. One very disturbing image in there though :-)

John

John Togher

Thu 24th Sep 2009 14:12

Cheers Mr Thomas. Shows how important spelling is, even though most who read it would have got the intended image. I suppose all stationery shops are stationary shops.

I'm quite fond of this poem and I'm not sure why, there's definitely something there, a narrative from a collection of lines, hints at a story, plenty of symbols; if anything it's a fun piece of throwing down lines and words which doesn't have to mean anything.

<Deleted User> (5646)

Thu 24th Sep 2009 10:59

You are a renegade but i like you.
Nice poem! Love the general kick-about feel to this. Created a lot of black and white imagery for me which i find original yet my image was of a school boy in short trousers with loose tie and grey shirt. A bit of a rebel.

Janet.x

<Deleted User> (6484)

Thu 24th Sep 2009 09:43

I go along with the previous reviewers, good stuff mate.
Bernie

darren thomas

Thu 24th Sep 2009 08:15

Once again Togher you hit the spot.As your poetry is suited to 'the page' the word 'stationary', in this context, is incorrect. Unless... it's a deliberate use?

Otherwise it's the other spelling 'stationery' - with an 'e'. I try to remember this by thinking that the 'e' represents 'envelopes'. Notwithstanding this minor infringement - I can already see this sitting inside another great collection.

Gus Jonsson

Thu 24th Sep 2009 07:55

Can't say enough ... wonderful, wonderful

Gus

Graham Sherwood

Wed 23rd Sep 2009 21:31

John I don't really know why I like this. I like the idea of being jealous of laughter and throwing ink at the moon too. Really good work. The last four lines are superb.

If you wish to post a comment you must login.

The Waiting

Comments

Please consider supporting us