The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Annwen Bates.
~~~
Private and confidential
Between 7 and 7.54
between the front door
and the stairs
it was discarded
and retrieved,
enveloped and received.
~~~
Recycling
This afternoon it felt good
to hear the paper snap and sear
with each swift wrench
from hands made mighty
by the fuel to remove:
I tore up our letters.
~~~
Red Disas
At the falls
he was already ill.
But the morphine drip
as far across the bank
as those
hidden flower faces in
the damp and shrouded crags.
~~~
Shall we talk in private
Dans un couloir
Bonjour
Au revoir
Dans un couloir
here issued the Director
notice, so sorry
the banana listened in
they three stood
in the corridor
employee
director
a listening banana
dans un couloir
the notice
pas de trois
dans un couloir
BONJOUR
AU REVOIR
Previously unpublished, © Annwen Bates, 2019
- Annwen Bates grew up in Cape Town, has worked in Grahamstown, Poland and Brazil and currently lives in London. Her writing has been published in Carapace, Type/Cast, Party In Your Eye-Socket and an anthology edited by Benjamin Zephaniah. She has read at London locations such as the Poetry Café, the Troubadour Café and Keats House. Compositions inspired by Annwen’s poems have been performed in Cape Town, New Jersey, USA and Brasilia. You can read more of her work at Beaded Quill.
The JRB Poetry Editor is Rustum Kozain
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