Peter Porter Poetry Prize
2010 ABR Poetry Prize shortlist
Taken as Required
by Ynes Sanz
An age ago, ill-matched,
ignorant but willing,
we set the rules.
‘Step by Step’, we said. ‘No Bullshit.’
Today, thinking of something else
I stumbled across the grey metal bracelet
you looped over that stick of a wrist
where your thin blood stained the skin
to resemble an antique map or a bad tattoo
(like the one they inked on for that photo shoot in the ’50s).
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Comment (1)
at school. Reading this poem gave me visions as stories of substance. I think of artists such as Leonard Cohen - ah, Various Positions.
When you're force-fed classics as a kid, you're inclined to regurgitate them with a
bitter
bitter
taste
'cause you hate school and "home" and teachers 'n all.
So thank you, Anthony Lawrence, for letting me see
what is from what is not.
That chalk-dust in its wake, I'm seeing it
still.