Fossil Fuel

I did not want it
This longing for a stone
That I will never find
Evidence of life lived
I held it once
A clean slate
Under grey flat skies
At Staithes sluice
Seaworn and smooth
My perfect ammonite
Was fuel for my heels
Salted my battles to come
My father spoke for me
Said I did not want it
So it was left, like my father
Washed by the North Sea
They both lived once
And they shone for me

Cycle

The sound of morning
Whistles in my ears
Machine noises off
My body and the cars outside
Indistinguishable
It recalls Acomb dawns
When dragons drew breath
On far rails at the edge
Of my senses
My ride to work past
Adverts for Meat Is Murder
And the smiles of Ashfield Girls
At my streaming hair
Was a time of dreaming
My youth training scheme
Waiting to wake me
From such anticipations
I am fully woken now
Four pills down by 7am
Is how I greet
My oldest friends
That burn in my heart
And ache in my bones
I would not miss them
Not in the slightest
This is the road to admission
That those times
Will not come again
Posting pictures of wilt and weeds
To good people staring
Through the other side
Of the looking glass
Is how I pass my ride
This is a new cycle
Morrissey is not what he was
And the college gates are gone
The queen is dead boys
The queen is dead
But I am still alive
And that boy still rides
If you look deep
In my eyes, blue still
After all these years
Of sleep

BIO – BARRY FENTIMAN HALL

Barry Fentiman Hall (BFH) is a writer based in the Medway region of Kent. He is primarily a poet of place. He has been published in several journals such as Picaroon, Anti-Heroin Chic, I Am Not A Silent Poet, and Crack The Spine. His debut solo collection The Unbearable Sheerness Of Being was published by Wordsmithery in 2015. His latest book England, My Dandelion Heart has just been launched (Wordsmithery 2018) . He is also the host of Roundabout Nights, Chatham’s oldest regular live lit night and the editor of Confluence Magazine. He has been a commissioned writer for Northfleet Big Local, Wandering Words, and 23 Submarines. He has a thing for hares.

Fossil Fuel and Cycle were published by Wordsmithery in England, My Dandelion Heart