anti-thrill
the fox gloves in the clothes press
at the cheap motel in sussex
do a rad
impression of a fire hydrant
at a motor-city roller disco in 1973
if you get the opportunity
to book them
i strongly recommend
they maintain it for quite some time
it is like you are there
you can virtually taste it
the sound of the skating
and swooshing
the smell of sweat (it is summer)
and minimal chance of fire
adds a kind of anti-thrill
interruption
the acres of braille mountains
don’t put out
unless you putt
wait I’ve been interrupted
by what I thought was a child
crying or laughing
but may have been cats or foxes
fucking or fighting
it is over now
and i am still in scotland
question
spindly trees with spindly legs
always wait their turn
but still carry some resentment
how many sour-worm vodka-popsicles
how many strawberry daiquiris on ice
how many white russian freezies
will change that?
ornithology
the birds on the front
of my boyfriend’s notepad
are trying to distract me
i think their minds are on cheese
or perhaps escape
not sure how or why
they are bringing me into this
no restrictions
i’m a good sleeper but a bad rapper
although that’s not all strictly true
i heard a rumour that when we die
we die and that’s it
compartmentalising
is a survival method
not only for the cruel
Vik Shirley is a poet, writer, critic, and educator from Bristol now living in Edinburgh. Her books include Corpses (Sublunary Editions), Notes from the Underworld (Sublunary Editions), Disrupted Blue and other poems on Polaroid {Hesterglock), One by One (No Press), Poets (The Red Ceilings), Strangers Wave (zimZalla), The Continued Closure of the Blue Door (HVTN) and Cassette Poems, (above/ground press). Some Deer (Broken Sleep) will be published 31st December 2024 and Nervous Tic (Sublunary Editions) is due for publication in Autumn 2025. Vik’s work has appeared in Poetry London, PN Review, The Rialto, Magma, Gutter and Dreaming Awake: New and Contemporary Prose Poetry from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom (MadHat Press). A regular performer at the European Poetry Festival, Vik is a Poetry School Tutor (teaching on the Surreal Narrative, Absurdism and the Grotesque). She co-edits Firmament online and Surreal-Absurd at Mercurius. Vik has a PhD in Dark Humour and the Surreal in Poetry from the University of Birmingham.
