Sunday, May 17, 2015

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 
 


 



 

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