Poetry - Graham Fulton, Street Level, 2007

New collections from Scottish poet Graham Fulton, due for publication:

Upside Down Heart
from Dreadful Night Press towards the end of 2008.
A collection of 30 love poems, featuring full colour illustrations by Becky Bolton.

Black Motel
from Dreadful Night Press in 2009. A collection of 21 dreams, with black and white photographs by Graham Fulton.

Pocket Fugues
from Controlled Explosion Press in 2009. A collection of 18 snapshot poems, with black and white photographs by Graham Fulton.

 

Chihuahua

In Gabriels pub the match is on
a massive, plasma, wall-mounted screen.
Scotland have won the toss, Nil Nil.

A granny in a pink plastic coat
nudges beside us, takes a sip
of lager from her half pint glass,
tells us that she had to have
her dog put down this afternoon.

Ian thinks at first she said Son;
he may have misheard, the crowd is loud.
Scotland are holding on, we’re calm.

I miss him a lot, he was just this big
she says, and demonstrates her claim;
a foot of space between her palms.
We try our best not to catch her eye.

It’s nice to have … Ukraine have scored
in darkest Kiev, the clock ticks on.
We watch the drama of life unfold:
red offences, homer ref,
goal-line punts, theatrical dives.
He was thirteen, and had all his teeth.

A last minute penalty bulges the net,
she asks the barstaff to call her a cab.
Ian thinks at first she said Son.
He may have misheard, the time is loud.

Scotland are passing out, we’re done.
I always fed him chicken and veg,
dog food’s crap
. Scotland are mince.

 

 

Big Screen

I ask you if it’s alright if I go ten minutes early
because we’re playing Germany tonight
in a make-or-break qualifier
and I’d like to make the Big Screen kick-off
in the Big Screen kick-off pub
with a big selection of beers on tap,
and you say Of course son
and I hope your team wins
and I’ll see you tomorrow.
And Scotland are losing and the pub is full
of people I’ll eventually never see again
and the screen is veiled by slow grey smoke
and a laughing German
is escorted from the premises,
and it’s all increasingly small
and I can’t really make you out
as I think of you alone in your head
and I wish I could have those ten minutes back.

 

 

The Warrior Race on Bath Street

first a girl on
            boy’s back
                      out
                of their heads
    laughing         glass
smashing         five or six
piling in
with fists           boots     charging
up the hill         not seeing
            the shoppers
                hiding
against the walls of
banks     lawyers     bistros
the zenith
of civilisation
                     letting them
              steam past     booting
                       roaring     throwing
        each other to
the road         stamping
one face
as it melts in the centre
                   the vortex
            people
        silent     behind
their two-way mirror     watching
a primal fury
take shape    letting
them get on with it

Works in Progress

Stone Circle
A full length collection taking us on a journey from
childhood innocence to adult disillusionment and back again.

Equal Night
A full length collection about grief and the events before,
during and after the death of a loved one.

pod people
A darkly humorous full length collection about a 9 to 5 office job.

Flying Lessons
A full length collection seeking out the common strands
of humanity in every corner of the globe.

The Tarot Cards that Ginsberg Touched
A chapbook collection about the illusion of 'fame’
(amongst other things).

The Man who Forgot How to
A chapbook collection about an obsession with mortality.

Suspect Novelties
Textmessage poems, subtitlepoems, bulkfolderpoems.

Reclaimed Land
A long poem about trying to find a place that no longer exists.