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Poetry

30/4/20

Cai Draper

This poem is part of the SPOONFEED takeover of New Writing, curated by Kat Payne Ware and Sean Wai Keung. You can read the issue in full at spoonfeedmag.com/spoonfeed-x-new-writing

 

I made a chestnut man:

A round belly, inedible pulp

To pat.

Skinny legs made of matches.

They rot on frosty nights before

1st November.

 

Coats were pulled out of wardrobes.

Pine tree wreaths, chrysanthemum.

All for the dead.

 

Steaming naphtaline and damp wool.

Warm, digested words coming out and

A halo of sweets sold in kiosks.

 

The dead chewed earthy soil,

We sucked on hard sour candy.

Loud and crunchy.

Oh, Lord,

Let perpetual light shine on them,

Chupa Chups Cola lollies, amen.

 

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