Bio: Matthew J. Hall is a UK writer based in Bristol. His poetry chapbook Pigeons and Peace Doves is available through Blood Pudding Press.
www.screamingwithbrevity.com
Gene is perpetually awake
his head weighing heavy on a pillow of voices
all speaking at once
in a mess of memory and noises
yet Gene, the insomniac
holds not the slightest animosity
how could he?
his bed-fellows are his only friends
and when they did not visit
he missed them
Gene's strychnine syringe
the apple has escaped Gene's eye
which is red and saw -the eye, not the apple-
the apple, by all outward appearance is red
substantial, delicious
Gene's mouth waters
as his inner-men scream bloody murder
the first bite can never be recaptured
it's skin-breaking action evolves inside
by the treachery of nostalgia, need and imagination
go ahead, Gene
eat your cyanide apple
seaside suicide
Gene stood on the cliff's edge
the waves breaking on sharp rocks
it was loud and south-west air tastes like salt
his lips were dry
there were no ships on the horizon
and Lundy Island was hidden by cloud
Gene had polished his shoes
and put on a shirt and tie
he lit a cigarette and looked out into the ocean
he did not see god
it was raining
there was water everywhere
love the under-stated and seeming-simplicity of "seaside suicide"--the perfection of the particulars of the poem, and the way those particulars are strung together--that's art.
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