https://www.albany.edu/offcourse
http://offcourse.org
ISSN 1556-4975
https://www.albany.edu/offcourse
http://offcourse.org
ISSN 1556-4975
Poems by Christopher Barnes.
DIDN'T WE?
Repositioning memories —
stewed towels. haute cuisine,
the town-talked Piaf.
In the opposite scale
I don't scent backstreets.
Did we rocket through see-double doors
at the Paris Metro? Imaginable.
On strong-taste docks
we read Genet
where slip-waters fidget.
SWEET SHOP DRUNKS
Ganga whaps his guts, then a fist.
He's partial to an icing shower
and rests treacle sleepy
after humbugs in a bag.
Sun dips, spark-glinting.
Harlequinade public spirits
overstep the homeless.
A FINE FRENZY DAYMARE
Snap-thread clouds,
and cricked heads are shadow-prowelled.
Scream! Skreak! Watch your critical throat!
Mr Nguyan "Ooooos" the corkscrew fiend
under slothy eyelids,
wide-awake winks, creeped.
An evil-eye sun.
A pigeon glop on the park bench.
All the day's splinters
flipped in thin air
where diamonds strut
through burnt-blood summer.
IT
We needn't cuss-fight, or self-quarantine.
You're safe-sided with me.
Mouth-watering is slurped, a blue moon
under my tongue.
And your physique's talky-talky.
Zipper-like forever? Us?
Long-lastingness is only a pause.
A LONG SEA
Conch the burble
of foam; wash.
Dinky stir-drops
scale a whiffet
up unhidden arms.
YOU
Memorise me for another time,
a curtains-closed sun-go-down,
in a creep-into-a-corner winter.
ME
Security telescopes
mind-read me, everyman.
My prints
are the environment,
fume sniffs of fabric softener.
The store guard smirks,
suspects my money's worth.
Forasmuch as I am plastic
floating debt swiper 105,
I'm armed
to scroll Tesco's till.
Roll-call. I exist!
Christopher Barnes says:Some bio details...
in 1998 I won a Northern Arts writers award. In July 200 I read at Waterstones bookshop to promote the anthology 'Titles Are Bitches'. Christmas 2001 I debuted at Newcastle's famous Morden Tower doing a reading of my poems. Each year I read for Proudwords lesbian and gay writing festival and I partake in workshops. 2005 saw the publication of my collection LOVEBITES published by Chanticleer Press, 6/1 Jamaica Mews, Edinburgh.
I also have a BBC webpage http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/videonation/stories/gay_history.shtml Click on the yellow writing where it says SECTION 28
Christmas 2001 The Northern Cultural Skills Partnership sponsored me to be mentored by Andy Croft in conjunction with New Writing North. I am about to make a radio programme for Web FM community radio about my writing group. October-November 2005, I entered a poem/visual image into the art exhibition The Art Cafe Project, my piece Post-Mark was shown in Betty's Newcastle. This event was sponsored by Pride On The Tyne. I made 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. The film is going into an archive at The Discovery Museum in Newcastle and contains the poem The Old Heave-Ho. I am working on a collaborative art and literature project called How Gay Are Your Genes, facilitated by Lisa Mathews (poet) which will exhibit at The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University before touring the country and it is expected to go abroad, this will be funded by The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Institute, Bioscience Centre at Newcastle's Centre for Life. I was recently involved in the Five Arts Cities poetry postcard event which exhibited at The Seven Stories children's literature building. In May I have a solo art/poetry exhibition at The People's Theatre... why not take a look at their website http://ptag.org.uk/whats_on/gulbenkian/gulbenkian.htm
body of poem