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Washing Lines. & Windpipes

BY ANTHONY ANAXAGOROU

 

for Wayne Holloway-Smith

so gently
have the children
been washed
& scented
with lavender.
against their will.
so thick
the salt of dogs.
breathing is the
hardest thing of all.
I want us to share
orange socks.
heavy coats. washing
lines. & windpipes.
a whole bandwagon.
to stay still
during the ad
breaks.
let phones
nibble away our
pen tops. time
is inhaling us both.
holding us to
the bruise her father
left. I know.
you know.
this sky you’re
talking into.
the hunger you want
to tie. man.
look how fucking
vegan we are. softer
& more dangerous.
than an uncooked
egg. how nearly
dead we were.
an adult lying
to a child is called
bedtime. the other
way round. is war.
who drilled
these fractions
into us. who stood
by & watched.
I want to tell you
it’ll all be fine. as
though any of us
last. make it past
the next if.

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Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His poetry has been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, Granta, The Rialto and Oxford Poetry. His work has also appeared on BBC Newsnight, BBC Radio 4, ITV, Vice UK, Channel 4 and Sky Arts. His second collection After the Formalities published by Penned in the Margins in September 2019 is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and has been shortlisted for the 2019 T.S Eliot Prize. He was awarded the 2019 H-100 Award for writing and publishing, and the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award for his poetry and fiction. In 2019 he was made an honorary fellow of the University of Roehampton. Anthony is artistic director of Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and music night held at London’s Southbank Centre, and publisher of Out-Spoken Press

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