old paint tins
a rusted lawnmower
with clods of grass and earth
dried to its blades
weed killer and plant food in damp
half-open cardboard cartons
paint brushes
their bristles clogged
with brittle gloss
fold-up patio furniture
from a distant summer
when the weather was hot
old unused tools
some thinners
ancient paint-daubed rags
and half-used bags
of peat and compost
two bikes
a trike
a tractor scarred and plastic
a bag of battered dolls
some bald some limbless
toothless football boots
yawning tennis rackets
board games
magazines
relics of a lifetime
cast aside
Brian Kirk has published two poetry collections with Salmon Poetry, After The Fall (2017) and Hare’s Breath (2023) and a fiction chapbook It’s Not Me It’s You (Southword Editions, 2019). His novel Riverrun was a winner of the Novel Fair 2022.
More work by Brian Kirk
Tel: 028 7126 6946
Email: hueditor@theverbal.co
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