Poems by Les Wicks

We’re Into Solutions


Red Riding Hood need fear no wood,
we cut them all down.


As every bear would like to know
Goldilocks is gluten-free. The way into  
Rapunzel’s most secret room is tattooed on her buttocks.


There’s signage everywhere. Hansel & Gretel will not get lost 
& shouldn’t litter. 


Aladdin sails towards Europe in a flimsy lamp, 
has been offered a job with Rumpelstiltskin as he spins 
the corporate tangles in Liechtenstein.
 
Snow White can easily be tracked
through the GPS in her phone.
We are all dwarves now.
She will have her Apple™.




Blistered


The band’s manager warned me in advance.
I tried to be careful
but a boneyard’s worth of hole came up
& it was supposed to be a calling 
& I fell across it like a torn chorus.


Ray had plans, re-roofed his upscale home,
paved the path out to high gates, security cameras.
He thought it was building a reputation but somehow still
in the same pit as me - I lie down, he lies.
We were no class act.


Our band never practised, air guitars
wheezed. He said I had no post-doc degree or honour -
I said he had an excess, it was bound to end badly.


Nothing was simple or real. I mistook his ratty heartbeat
for a bass line. He snorted a line of argument,
it wasn’t time for my solo spot.
Sheet music talked of litigation.


The applause was febrile. Our audience
knew nothing, a smell in the corner of the stage
had written the reviews.

About the poet

Les Wicks  Over 40 years Wicks has performed at festivals, schools, prison etc. Published in over 350 different magazines, anthologies & newspapers across 24 countries in 12 languages. Conducts workshops & runs Meuse Press which focuses on poetry outreach projects like poetry on buses & poetry published on the surface of a river. His 13th book of poetry is Getting By Not Fitting In (Island, 2016).  http://leswicks.tripod.com/lw.htm

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