The Online Poetry Library

I got a letter through the post today from The Poetry Library at the South Bank Centre in London. They want to include one of my poems previously published in Magma magazine in their online archive of poetry magazines which you can access here. It's a great resource where you can find at least a few poems by your favourite poets. I'm still not represented there but this is the second time I have signed an approval letter so I guess eventually my time will come. While clicking through a few magazines earlier I came across a poem called Slaughterhouse by Hilary Menos. It's rather disturbing, I warn you. Here below is the poem that was published in Magma and which one day, hopefully, will be offered on the Poetry Library web site.


The Life Model

She grows old through staring out of the window
at the half-lidded eyes of the windows opposite,

or at the sea, the sea as it was in the beginning,
or at the empty road, the almost empty train.

She has posed so often the light seems to bleach her,
his clumsy brushstrokes patching her with shadow.

On canvas she's thinner, more shapely, wherever
she stands, she stands there thirty years ago.

Slowly, the emptying train disappears for the suburb
pulling its distant thread through her patient eye.



I will be reading at the Live Poets Society on Monday 16th January starting at 8 pm. Talented Parisian writers: Amy Hollowell and Lisa Pasold, will also be reading. Please come along if you can - you'll enjoy yourself. The venue is the downstairs bar of The Highlander, 8 Rue de Nevers, 75006 Paris. The nearest Metro stations are Odéon and St. Michel (RER Line B). 4 Euros on the door.