Issue 30: Christopher Barnes
Townscape
6
Smudge on glazed tiles.
Marigolds’ energy vindicates life.
Plunk - cedar doors.
Bendibus terminus unloads…
Where Artemis ragbagged her quiff.
7
Twofold - scored leaves, oblique.
Thick-growing membrane fortifies cotoneasters.
Nook panels reappear.
Driver unloads baguettes...
Where Eros hissed ‘No’.
8
Sham portcullis in mud.
Connective tissue undersurfaces ericas.
Air-trembling on patio.
Skipping rope’s dragged…
Where Dionysus hula-hulaed fitfully.
9
Entranceway hankers parade.
Subcellular density jams primulas.
Twinkling facade, buffeted.
Metalworks resume...
Where Dis crabbed at glossy quarterly.
10
Gracile archway pylons bevel.
Encoded proteins in forget-me-not wait.
Daylight escapes through glass ceiling.
An Elvis impersonator collapses…
Where Hebe screeds a lousy note.
Christopher Barnes won a Northern Arts writers award in 1998. His collection Lovebites was published by Chanticleer Press, 2005. He has read his work at Waterstones, Newcastle's Morden Tower, Proudwords lesbian and gay writing festival Edinburgh Festival and his work has featured in Betty's Newcastle. He has worked with The Northern Cultural Skills Partnership in conjunction with New Writing North, made a radio programme for Web FM community radio about his writing group, and a digital film with artists Kate Sweeney and Julie Ballands at a film making workshop called Out Of The Picture which was shown at the festival party for Proudwords, it contains his poem The Old Heave-Ho. He worked on a collaborative art and literature project called How Gay Are Your Genes, exhibited at The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University, including a film piece by the artist Predrag Pajdic in which he read his poem On Brenkley St. The event was funded by The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Institute, Bio-science Centre at Newcastle's Centre for Life. He was involved in the Five Arts Cities poetry postcard event which exhibited at The Seven Stories children's literature building. In May he had 2006 a solo art/poetry exhibition at The People's Theatre.
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