Three Poems by John Adlam

 

Unrequitable

I wasn’t proposing anything unseemly

as such – a fig leaf, or maybe a lady's favour,

one flaxen strand of hair – you

all luminous and fey, Galadriel down to a T,

me the spit of Gimli – quite hapless, qua suitor,

lost without an axe in my hand, or tunnel to dig.

exit, a bear

exit bereft

a derelict bear

sorry of arse

and tall of story

long past the glories

of his dancing days –

the cavehouse rock

the deepwood strut –

the last one left

outcast and orphaned

holed up and dry-

docked and failing fast

twisted of gut

and lame of limb

willing that winter

might wile him away

Lullaby

Hush! There’s no need

for despond or alarm –

you will come to no harm,

if you but pay no heed

to the lure of the deep,

nor the Siren’s calling –

the fear of falling –

the longing to leap.

John Adlam lives in Brixton, South London. He is a group psychotherapist and independent psychosocial researcher and writer. He is a Trustee of the London-based Survivors’ Poetry collective and he reads regularly at open mic events, online and in person.

John’s poems have been recently published (or are scheduled for publication) in Iamb (Wave 27), After…, Full House Literary, Snow lit rev, Atrium, South, Eunoia, Asylum, and also anthologised by The Broken Spine (twice) and The Book Bag, and in two anthologies of university poetry, published in the 1980s, of which he was also the co-editor. Some of John’s poetry and prose work can be found at https://substack.com/@johnadlam1.