Ralph
Dartford
Ralph Dartford hails from
Basildon in Essex, and now lives in West Yorkshire, having got there via
Australia, Barcelona, and Los Angeles. He was a founding member of influential
spoken word collective ‘A Firm of Poets’, and his first collection of
poetry, Cigarettes, Beer and Love was
published by Ossett Observer Presents in 2013. His next collection, Recovery Songs, was published by Valley Press (www.valleypress.com) in 2019, and Hidden Music followed
in October 2021. Ralph is the poetry editor at www.northerngravy.com and is currently studying for a Creative Writing PhD at the University
of Huddersfield.
Helter Skelter
It all began so very well
on this blossomed Easter Day.
Which led to a misunderstanding –
in a quietened, difficult way.
Tiptoeing the Pacific shoreline,
Hannah gripped her black plastic locket.
Showed him all her sacred stories
that were hidden within her pockets.
A plastic six-legged spider,
a chewed Chewbacca doll.
A love letter from the tiny boy,
his dreams of being a girl.
The green sea rolling in tightly.
The easy holding of each other’s hands.
He brought pink folded fairground tickets –
made the wildest of plans.
She waved at him from the summit.
She screamed but never came down.
He slouched at the bottom for an hour,
or so – then headed straight back into town.
Perhaps it was just the white sunshine,
or a promise of some fought freedom.
Maybe the coming of Jesus Christ,
or the changing of the season.
Carolyn Cassidy
We pitched our tents at Big Sur
and sat around fires
talking
about freedom.
We slept under rainfall
and in the morning drove away.
Trapped by all that jazz
on the way back to Frisco
you told me
I made you lonely.
That freedom is for the birds.
Bucks from a Cuban
Yeah, the pancakes are good.
See that guy over there.
Yeah him, chewing meatloaf
like a godammed camel.
Well round here,
they say that he fired the second
shot on the Grassy Knoll.
The one that blew
America’s head open.
He did it when he was a kid.
Bucks from a Cuban.
They say these days
he works for Trump.
That he’ll pull the trigger
again when the time is right.
Easy on the syrup.
