{"id":2500,"date":"2013-04-14T01:21:25","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T01:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2013-05-15T10:38:49","modified_gmt":"2013-05-15T10:38:49","slug":"two-poems-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mud
\n 
\n<\/a>The Grudge<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feed it first
\nwith mustard spoons,
\nwith care, avoiding
\nsudden and disarming light.<\/p>\n

Sing, (you know its songs).
\nGnnarr, it says. \u00a0Gnnaar.
\nLittle thing, little thing.<\/p>\n

A daytime moon
\nand still you\u2019re there,
\npink-eyed, the mustard spoons,<\/p>\n

the tablespoons, while the grudgeless
\ndream bland dreams – and nights
\nof them – until<\/p>\n

one evening? Afternoon?
\n(So many spoons),
\nyou find it\u2019s grown,<\/p>\n

it\u2019s strong enough
\nto bear you on its back
\nand ride you mightily
\nthrough this whole cold world.
\n 
\n<\/p>\n

Love Song in a Bleached Room \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wait a long time before Anya comes:
\noff duty she smiles and my skin goes electric.
\nTake me home, I say through my unmoving mouth.<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t you asleep yet? She asks.
\nNot asleep, I say with my nearly dead lips.<\/p>\n

There is a moon outside or no moon. \u00a0The lawn
\nstripes with light or no light. \u00a0In the pavement cracks
\ninsects are living their unexamined lives.<\/p>\n

Anya won\u2019t talk when she\u2019s tightening the tourniquet.
\nMy veins are so fat I almost giggle \u2013
\nswollen rivers to places I\u2019ve forgotten existed.<\/p>\n

She tells me not to think too hard,
\nit\u2019s bad for my readings. \u00a0She charts me like a ship
\ndespite the fact I\u2019m anchored safely to the bed.
\nIf you try to jump there\u2019s fuss \u2013<\/p>\n

the lifejackets taste of bitter rubber,
\nthe lighthouse comes straight for your eyes.<\/p>\n

Anya, If I say her name forty, fifty times, it means
\nnothing, it\u2019s merely sound let loose.
\nMy eyelashes are on the brink of extinction but<\/p>\n

my arms still work. \u00a0Up down they go
\nwhen I ask them to. All right when I plead.<\/p>\n

Anya knows my arms were not always like this.
\nI could sing once, I tell her with blinks,
\nshow tunes and passages of light opera.<\/p>\n

Her curls are shiny like ribbon
\nor frazzled with fatigue, and either way I wish
\nI could touch them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feed it first
\nwith mustard spoons,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[294],"tags":[8],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Poems - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500&page=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Poems - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Feed it first with mustard spoons,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-14T01:21:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-15T10:38:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Mud-Room.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathryn Simmonds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathryn Simmonds\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500\",\"name\":\"Two Poems - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-14T01:21:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-15T10:38:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1d62c49d6a2b2ee722a0891ff984fc8\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2500\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1d62c49d6a2b2ee722a0891ff984fc8\",\"name\":\"Kathryn Simmonds\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Kathryn Simmonds\"},\"description\":\"Kathryn Simmonds\u2019s first book of poems, Sunday at the Skin Launderette, was published in 2008 and won the Forward Prize for best first collection. 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