Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 12/30/22

Sliding

Barcelona alone
Not much aim
Sliding in between
Not even worth
The focus
Of the whores
Skirting round
The train
Station
Out here
I’m singular
Green
A guy
Talks a talk
That costs a Euro
If I was dumb enough
To fall
I sit in McDonald’s
Contemplating
Sleeping on the beach
No room
I swim in my meal
No urgency
And I catch his eyes
Like a kid from 80s films
Probably a Corey
Sun-freckled
Alert
On the make
Hi-tops, t-shirt
Beneath the wife beater
Dirt
And I slide my eyes
Unknowingly to the side
How innocent I seem
The unwashed girl
Sat on steps
Eyes fixed on him
And I sip my tea
And catch him
Checking in
And even in this pincer
Movement
I am not the focus
The bag I wear is
I tire of the game
And hold
Fingers to my eyes
Point at him
Point at her
He gets it
Seen it
Been it
He fucks off
So does she
I sip my tea
Ready to leave
And consider
Warning
The businessman
On the table
Opposite
Of the deal
Going down

Michael Pollentine’s poetry has featured in Outcast Press magazine (Vol. 9 – where it also won Best Poem), A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Bristol Noir, Terror House Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Roi Fainéant Press, Bear Creek Gazette, Don’t Submit, Black Scat Review, Down in the Dirt Magazine, Alien Buddha Press (Alien Buddha Skips the Party Part 2, and Zine #42) and many others. He lives in South Wales with his wife.