Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Robert Hampson: synthetic feed



4 cris cheek


accounts diverge
to continue
missing you already
a thousand miles
(not exactly)
that pause, that gesture
that half-begun
was it expensive
there was no opposition
changing names
to protect confidentiality
shift patterns
write the night
when I was younger
delivering papers
ten white & ten manila
we can’t afford it
working round the house
we need to talk
5 years (was it)
envelopes for Melanie
another survival
that was the scary part
all the responsibility
of the finance
the negotiable freedoms
of double-page spreads
(to be continued)


sulphur occurs
catch the drift
destroying the evidence
as good as a mile
not exactly
text & textiles
missing sentences
tell your fortune
what was lost
names changed
for domestic purposes
coming home
through variable weather
every girl was blonde
we didn’t get the message
legal documents
continually reconfigured
crated up & loaded
was it expressive
5 summers
in her white hat
match in hand
that was the scary part
all that effort
to chill dissent
registration scrawled
on the driver’s visor
starts a new page

Robert Hampson has at least two books of poetry out: Assembled Fugitives (from Stride), and Seaport, an account of Liverpool that has attracted some interest locally. See also his work with Robert Sheppard, Liverpool Hugs and Kisses here. He is also a Conrad scholar and a critic of contemporary poetry.
Page 470


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