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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