stations of the crossed, by Kevin Reid

i.
… condemned to death

he won’t leave
the country is sick
but it’s home

ii.
… carries his cross

his want to stay
drags his need to escape
it’s difficult to hide

iii.
… falls for the first time

bombs don’t discern
he prays while he waits

iv.
… meets his mother 

weak they weep into each other
the first time since the invasion

 v.
 … helps him carry the cross

an orphaned friend
i’m coming with you

 vi.
… wipes his face  

he knew those eyes
they saved him from sniper fire
wiped his blood with her hijab

vii.
… falls the second time 

prays while he’s down
water is scarce

viii.
… meets the women

mothers of lost children
wives of dead men
sisters of fighting brothers join us

ix.
… falls the third time 

into killing hands
still he prays

x.
… stripped of his garments

his bones now greater than his skin

 xi.
… nailed to the cross

tortured by his own people
unsaved by bombs

xii.
… dies on the cross

the air full of cries
the earth blood

 xiii.
… taken from the cross 

headless
his body silenced

 xiv.

 …laid in the tomb

dumped in a mass grave

A close is a close is a close by Kevin Reid

after Gertrude Stein

tenement block.
tenement block.
tenement block.
tenement block.
tenement block.
tenement block.
them men in the block
them men in the block.
block.
block.
block
bloke.
you.
you only.
you only ten.
you only ten.
what a shame.
what a shame
what a shame hen.
what a poor shame hen.
blame him blame him blame him blame him.
him.
him.
him.
egg.
egg.
egg.
egg on.
egg on.
egg on his chin.
what a pair.
what a pair.
what a pair pair.
place.
place of.
place of nuts nuts.
old place.
what a place what a place what a place to be.
old face.
what a face what a face what a face is he.
come on come on come on come.
more more more more more.
more close.
more close.
too close.
too close.
too close.
but.
but.
but.
but.
but.
but.
close is a close is a close is a close.
a blow is undelighted.

 

close (n): The entry to a tenement house, the open passage-way giving access to the common stairs and the floors above.

 

Kevin Reid lives between Scotland and other lands. His work can be read in various journals such as, Ink Sweat and Tears, The Interpreter’s House, Under The Radar, Seagate III, Scotia Extremis, Domestic Cherry, And Other Poems. A mini pamphlet, Burdlife (Tapsalteerie), was published in 2017.  He’s the editor of Nutshells and Nuggets, a blogzine for short poems. 

Sorry by Kevin Reid

for Siraj

Last week my cousin was shot,
yesterday, a close friend.
I can’t cry anymore.

I’m going for asylum now,
I’ve been in the UK for two years,
they say it takes a long time.

They stopped me volunteering.
I’m not here for money,
I have my own,

but it’s poor against the pound. Here,
people are suspicious, I understand why.
I’m not a terrorist. I can’t go back

to my country, I’m westernized,
they’ll kill me.

Can You Help? by Kevin Reid

Removing the leather belt
and the spent needle
from the cooker, she claims
the boy is trying.

Floors furred with dog hair,
says the vacuum’s broken,
offers tea or coffee
in cracked cups. 

Lifting a stained scrap of paper
from a pile of junk on the floor,
she shows me a detox plan –
Diazepam 5-4-3-2-1,
his father didn’t make it.

Kevin Reid lives in Angus. He is the founding creator of the online multimedia collaborations >erasure and >erasure ii and Wordless, an image and text collaboration with George Szirtes published by Knives, Forks and Spoons Press. He’s also the editor of Nutshells and Nuggets, a blogzine for short poems. His poetry can be found in various online and printed zines including, Domestic Cherry, And Other Poems, The Open Mouse, Ink, Sweat and Tears, The Interpreter’s House, The Stare’s Nest and The Poetry Bus, and forthcoming in Under the Radar.
Visit http://eyeosphere.com/ to see all his online work

The Frightened by Kevin Reid

At the fisted toilet door
his son fidgets with his pyjamas,

What’s wrong with you? he shouts.
into his little face.

No one rises to this man, no one
from the nicotine living room.

His stomach feels their numb reply.
His son froze, clutching his teddy

beneath a bare bulb.
Crouching to his level, his eyes

penetrating, he whispers
If they ask, just tell them…

Kevin Reid lives in Angus. He is the founding creator of the online multimedia collaborations >erasure and >erasure ii and Wordless, an image and text collaboration with George Szirtes published by Knives, Forks and Spoons Press. He’s also the editor of Nutshells and Nuggets, a blogzine for short poems. His poetry can be found in various online and printed zines including, Domestic Cherry, And Other Poems, The Open Mouse, Ink, Sweat and Tears, The Interpreter’s House, The Stare’s Nest and The Poetry Bus, and forthcoming in Under the Radar.
Visit http://eyeosphere.com/ to see all his online work.