UNDERGROUND VOICES MAGAZINE/CHRISTOPHER MAJOR


	UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY

CHRISTOPHER MAJOR

Community Care

The lights blinded him,
blazing from gutters and doors,
gateposts and trees,
yet darkness didn't retreat.
Above carols and hymns,
mall led yo oh oh's
he still heard voices,
and the weight of fun 'n' frolics
and cheer weighed down,
but could not redress
to balance a man desperate,
begging to be helped,
at the doctors,
police station,
even church-
shouting and cursing,
giving God a piece of mind
that,
after newspaper splashes
and victim profiles,
it might be kinder
he never gets back.....

Still Bitter

20 years since I last saw you,
when whittling cheekbones
in young kids with sharp words,
threats and dinner money 'taxes'.
An adept skill for finding
the weak spots of buck teeth,
spots,
in my case a lazy eye.
Shot sentences syllable barbed,
hooking,
reeling in to a pinch or punch,
a faceful of snot or saliva.

Now fat, bloated and begging,
gripping a tin of flat beer
you aimlessly shuffle the mall,
rosy glow just blood pressure
body tanned by liver damage,
your grubby hand a hook before me
which I ignore,
brush past,
off loading nothing
yet feeling lighter.....

Chris Major's work has appeared online at Zygote in my coffee,
My Favorite Bullet, Remark, Lily, Stirring,Pemmican, Snakeskin
and Underground Voices.