Teenage Odyssey

This week, I’ve got another entry in my song-inspired series of poems! This one was inspired by ‘Wind Me Up’ by Extreme, which I’ve included below so you can have a listen while you read, if you like!

In other poetry-related news, I’ve released the entirety of Aleatory Poetry as a free eBook available on Booksie. Seven (!) years after publishing it in print, I decided to do something about there not being a complete eBook version out there, so I added to the ten poems that were already in the Booksie edition (with just over 3000 reads, which is wild!) and completed the book. It’s the same content as the print edition, just without the images accompanying each poem, and some poems originally printed in two parts have been combined for ease of reading.

First Poem In This Series: To Witness, To Behold, inspired by ‘Sowing The Seeds Of Love’ by Tears For Fears

Previous Poem In This Series: Feline Details, inspired by ‘Fancy Shoes’ by Steam Powered Giraffe

Teenage Odyssey

Everyone’s gonna be there.
Buzz–tapping–leather
slung around the shoulders,
bare shoulders–fuck–
missed a step, leather
off the shoulders, t-shirt
from the back of the chair–
not washed, but not smelling–
jeans from the floor,
a little dirt flecked
over the cuffs–wider holes
than yesterday, more frayed–
boots half-laced, enough
to stay, stomping–charger,
buzz–yanked off–to the mirror–
spray, the cloud close enough–
keys, wallet, leather again,
jangling out the door–
twirl to the bannister,
straighten on the stairs–
kick up dust–the eternal
call: I’m going out. Slam.

Discovery–into the pockets–
wires, little plastic pieces
of heaven–buzz–one-handed
tapping, swerving a pram
and a toddler and a pissed-off mother–
into a miasma of tobacco–
liquorice is far superior–
through the smoke screen, wait–
red–red–red–red–red–green–
or close enough–the jog-sprint–
temptation sprinkled on fish n’ chips,
kebabs, milkshakes–milkshakes?–
through, concrete for grass–
mud, trickling of a brook–
down–trolley with a broken neck,
rats gathering for tea–
metallic stomping, rusted-green
bridge with school-journey footprints–
dirt, grass, mud, dirt, grass, mud–
cat-scratches from brambles, burnt
trees, squashed cans–squashed cans!

The ashes of a dead bonfire;
last week’s bonfire, last week’s cans–
buzz.

Fuck’s sake, Frankie,
don’t you ever check your phone?
Gonna rain–everyone’s gonna be there
tomorrow.

Spitting sky–stomping–
dirt, grass, mud, dirt, grass, mud,
concrete, concrete, concrete,
carpet: Slam.

If you enjoyed this, click here to check out some of my poetry collections – free ebooks available as well as print books on Amazon!

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