SAM DUCKOR-JONES

 

Full Length Mirror

 

everyone’s      putting out in public &      werkin best reflections

clocked      in walk-in-wardrobes     loos     shop windows      hubcaps &
backs of phones     we twirl     we      tuck pout pucker      highlight
we hide     we     reveal

like

birds of paradise     famously & ba    boons        well         &
the dog    with her pheromones    mongrels at the gate    &

those who ask for     photographic     proof of     bandied talent

if the hour is right     you might get a
sequined wink from the moon      boys

it’s when the light is low that
hairy pots start to look real nice

On Intimacy

 

Before
when I used to go round with the ocean          late night hook
ups drunken punch ups        surprising me with a present         in love
again the next morning         tantrums         frightening sometimes     I
remember        but I like to be pinned down           don’t you like to be
pinned down?

The day before my thirtieth                   I hooked up with a mountain &
the mountain took it seriously           now I’m married to the mountain
& that’s a domination . . .            of a different colour          in the winter
I spend baggy hours     paleing     in    his     shadow

I did get away for a day last week to south of Awakina          the ocean
puffed his savoury chest   we wrestled saucily til dusk      went to bed
with slap marks all over &     kisses in my eyebrows . . .

Old mountain    he knows    he’s a mensch    cuckold                 he’s old
he does his best       so         I guess        I’ll hang around                   plus
he’s introduced me to this river         his mate            who is beautiful &
focused       driven            interested in the world           affectionate but
with seasonal temper & on the same page as me more or less when it
comes to a coastal urge

                                                                   Meanwhile        all my friends are
pregnant &                     getting     divorced &                                      dying
I’ll stick with this mountain till Christmas                              by then all the
ceremonies will be done &         stale pledges nullified     see me flicking
through my contacts                    got my eye on you                     Puponga

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sam Duckor-Jones is famous in Featherstone for being unmarried and uninterested. He doesn’t mow his lawns either. He just potters around in the garage. Oh ok, sometimes he falls in love. Sam also completed the MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2017.