Bryn Fortey

Bryn Fortey has had a lifetime's involvement with words. One time editor of Bruce Hodder's favourite poetry magazine, OUTLAW, (it's true! Bruce),

a family tragedy forced him away from writing for a number of years before circumstances allowed him to return. The Alchemy Press

published MERRY-GO-ROUND, a mixed fiction and poetry collection of his work, in 2014.

 

ELVIS AND I

 

 

Cardiac arrhythmia

(Irregular heartbeat to you)

     Tick

Enlarged heart

(His by 50%, mine just a little)

     Tick

High blood pressure

     Tick

Short of breath

     Tick

But I was never the avatar of cool

Nor become a figure of bloated excess

(Well not to the same extent)

I have far outlived his forty-two years

A musical snob at first

I danced to his rhythms in secret

Before acknowledging his heritage

Janis Martin sang: 'My Boy Elvis'

But he belonged to the world

And tears were shed around the globe

On the day he died

The King of Rock and Roll

Fat with junk food and prescription drugs

Pyjama bottoms round his ankles

Dead on his toilet floor

With my list of medical 'ticks' in mind

I am in and out of my 'smallest room' real fast

Knowing that one day the strain

Might be too much for my heart as well

Bryn Fortey

THERE, THE SONGBIRD

I am the Captain

Of this vessel

I set the sail

And plot the course

You would lose

Should we wrestle

I am the master

Of brute force

The Sea

The shore

The orange skies

A songbird dies

For lack of grace

Space, the killer

Dark assassin

There the seat

The pilot sat in

There, the songbirds

Strangled face

Bryn Fortey