Three Poems by Cliff Wedgbury

 

doodlebug

(for rose)

 

the engine stopped

and in that moment’s deafening silence

she threw two babies from the pram

into a sunlit hell

and leapt upon them in terrified love

as a shadow of hatred fell

matinee

 

waiting in the darkness

for the film to begin

a matinee performance

with very few in

 

i chew dry popcorn

coat taken off

sweet bags are opened

someone coughs

 

sitting on our own

in a world of private dreams

anticipating love

interpreting what that means

 

half a dozen ladies

and sentimental me

waiting for the romance

at half-past three

tea with dad

 

lost in the heat haze

of a backyard sunday

he would sit and gaze

across a steaming pond

of a china mug

 

talking in that cheerful way

where truth surfaced easily

 

as mum hoisted wet white sheets

like familiar sails on a still horizon

Cliff Wedgbury is a Cork based poet, born in London in 1946. His formative years were spent in the folk clubs, jazz clubs and second-hand bookshops of the Charing Cross Road area in London. His last collection “A Lingering Adolescence,” was published by “Belfast/Lapwing.”