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
Two men are having a barbecue and it is
so boring I can hear a potato salad
being explained from two garden-
widths away and how did flavour
become dull I want to read and be
somewhere else but I can travel no further
than Homebase where a grill was purchased
or the twisting queue at a local butchers’
where burgers were sourced There is
nothing worse than a conversation
or a barbecue that you weren’t invited to
The men talk about the particulars
of a skewer the unreal and absolute
bargains the alcohol in a pineapple marinade
…..I used to think I couldn’t feel boredom
because my head was too much thoroughfare
but now, the question of firelighters
has been raised It might not be boredom
at all In fact I might be angry
and it is much easier to say that my hands
are in fists for a lack of something to do
…..I left my phone inside because it hurts
to look so I might as well be a man
who yells himself heard chicken skin
is crisping smoke is moving closer
and I can’t fathom what I used to find
in its smell