FOP #1

14.4 Club name

I saw her in the fast-track queue
to the club at the corner of Dawson Street,
batting her eyes at the bouncer and casting
a spell on the 20-stone behemoth. She had her phone
in her hand and her hair swished her
down the stairs and beyond my sight.
I thought I felt a buzz in my pocket but when
I looked my phone was as blank
as my company.

14.5 Formed poem

Clerihew

I hate it! All! Infested rhyme
haunting my poetry all the time.
From this moment on, I promise, I swear
to not let rhyme entangle me, so there!

14.6 Alcohol or drugs

The children took out their lunches, as usual.
The teacher helped Moll open her orange,
They sang happy 6th birthday to Sean.
At first Harry's convulsions went
un-noticed. When the ambulance came
he was unconscious. His mother met him
in the hospital later, realising the E tablet
she thought she had taken was easily small
enough to fall and remain unseen
in a child's lunchbox.

14.7 10-13 lines

Sunglasses shield
sensitive eyes from the rays
of the sun. Protect
children and their
sensitive retinas. Help
opticians invent novel
ways to improve sales. Ensure
men in black suits can watch
here, there, me, you,
without being seen.

14.8 Metaphor or simile

Similes are as cliche as the promise
of a soon-to-be elected politician,
canvassing votes and shaking hands and hoping
that people have short memories.

15.1 One animal and one number

Flicking through the channels I wondered
why there was a program called 'Lonesome George'
on at 10pm. I was surprised when images of
a giant tortoise greeted my eyes. I soon realised
that he was the very last of his Galapogos-based
species. Later I heard that Lonesome George
had passed and the world was minus one more
part of itself.

15.2 Wild Card

I went to the office naked on casual Friday
and promptly got sent packing,
But nowhere in the contract stated
a rule forbidding clothes-a-lacking,
so I went to my lawyer and this he said:
'I think we have a case.'
Little did I know he was counting in his head
the seconds until security began the chase!

15.3 Life

I have exhausted the possibilities of pigeon-holing
epiphanies and experiences into four
small, letters. The sharpness of my eye
has been blunted by over-exposure. I haven't
the energy to create anymore. I can only continue,
platonic to the intimacies of feeling.

15.4 Club name

I heard you out there, beyond the dark
of the moonless night, inspiring
the legend of banshees with your wails,
with your practicing of lullabies
in fox-tongue.

15.5 Formed poem

Acrostic

Please, regard me as a poem.
Or else, I mightn't get counted.
Even disjointed words can
Matter in some shape, some form.

15.6 Alcohol or drugs

The inside of the off-licence looked
different than how I had imagined it. My
16 year old body seemed to shrink
in the presence of wine bottles, cognac
decanters, beer cans and under the gaze
of the owner, standing sentinel
behind the counter. I failed to stroll casually
as the fake ID weighed heavy in my wallet.
Picking a six-pack, panicking now, I diverted
my eyes at the till. He looked me up and down
and asked my if I'd like a bag with that.
And I didn't notice but his grin was nearly
as large as mine.

15.7 10-13 lines

Each time I come to this
old, neon-lit casino the slots
have just been cleared out. The
great poker game has been played
and the dealer at the blackjack table
is on her break. I tickle
the money in my pocket
knowing the fertility I once had
here would be a long time coming
back.

15.8 Metaphor/simile

As quiet as a mouse
doesn't begin to describe the apathy
of my muse.

16.1 1 number 1 animal

Blind, bare, the newborn mouse
gravitates to the heat of
its mother. As he grows he knows
little of hedges and fields and the world
outside his glass box: he is brimming
with life but will only ever be seen
as sample case one hundred thirteen.

16.2 Wild Card

I hang a dream-catcher by my nursing home door
hoping that it will catch the memories
that float away with my mind, and bring back
some of the people I've lost before.

16.3 Life

At our 25th secondary-school graduation
(about half the year showed up), I drank
beer with middle-aged caricatures of
hurlers, nerds, the inbetweeners,
recognising faces and forgetting names.
They pulled out our yearbook, something I
hadn't seen in years, and we laughed
and cringed at what our 18 year old selves
had written. If I had known then how complicated
it would all get I would have written
something else.

16.4 Club

Quotes and tragedy, olde English
and multi-faceted characters,
the hours spent with name-defining sonnets
in the recesses of study halls should
have prepared you, Shakespearean Child,
for life outside their bubble.

16.5 Formed

Acrostic

Pies are nice.
I eat them with rice.
Everyone likes them.
Save me some pie, you dog.

16.6 Alcohol or drugs

I have become drunk on the words
alcohol, my writing must have sipped
away at a naggin of rum or rolled
a joint on its way here. It
has reduced itself, as all drugs do
to shadowing a reflection
in a blurry mirror.

16.7 10-13 lines

Clap, bang,
the thunder rolls and
the heavens weep their tears,
the sky is hellish,
skitish, drunk
and sends animals into fear.
As night wears on,
I hear the roars rescind
until it all seems clear,
but people will wake
and know in the morning
there was a storm here.

16.8 Metaphor or simile

I've never seen a skunk and
nothing suggests they have an inclination
towards alcohol. David Attenborough
never narrated the great skunk drinking session
of winter 1982. Because it never happened.
Was it somebody then, as desperate as me,
who in a moment of poetic licence-justified
scribbling declared the man falling into his street window
as drunk as a skunk?