The Other Side of Sleep

Narrative Poems

Kate Foley, Adrienne Silcock, Alwyn Marriage, Angela France, Anne Macaulay, Bernie Howley, Brian Johnstone, Carl Griffin, Cathy Bryant, Elinor Brooks, Emma Lee, Geraldine Green, Inua Ellams, j. lewis, Jennifer A. McGowan, Jeremy Dixon, Jill Sharp, Judi Sutherland, Math Jones, Sam Small, Sarah Lawson, Simon Brod, Cherry Potts

• Publisher: Arachne Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781913665142
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

What started as a complaint about the '40-line rule' in much of the poetry world has turned into an anthology that not only breaks that rule, but stomps all over it. Featuring 25 poems which break the rules - these are long, narrative, but by no means traditional poems, by contemporary voices.
Themes both great and small are explored in narrative poems that pack a punch. Human interactions from conversation, storytelling, lending and borrowing, theft, prayer, memory, shopping and a long walk, right through to sexuality, time travel, truce negotiations, disappearance, natural disaster, violence and death are all explored, many of them rooted in landscape and place. These lie alongside equally rooted mythological and historical tales drawn from Greece, Turkey, Africa, Scandinavia and Britain.
What draws all these themes together is the strength of the storytelling. Emotions as diverse as frustration, disappointment, embarrassment, hope, nostalgia, anger, and fear are channelled through spectacular poetry in many different forms into truly satisfying work.

ROBINSON

Brian Johnstone

PROSPECTS FOR ROBINSON

I

There is a bridge some miles from the city

known to all,

Robinson amongst them.

Rush hour

and Robinson has parked his convertible

in the shadow of one of the towers.

He is observed

walking with uncharacteristic haste

towards the western footway.

It is getting late.

The light is dimming fast.

II

Robinson passes several strollers.

His agitation is remarked upon.

He is heard to mutter

“Sunday, at five?”

seemingly addressing no-one.

This time determination does not desert him.

Robinson hits the water

at 5.01.

Its depths swallow him,

bubbles passing his ears like music,

presto.

III

On the footway

a Mrs Morse is walking her dog.

She is distracted by thoughts of her lover.

Was that a splash she heard?

“Ah well – those boys....”

The dog, a French poodle,

is pulling at the leash.

Of Robinson, there is

no sign.

IV

Aware of the pressure in his ears,

Robinson is surprised to find himself

conscious.

He remembers breaking the surface

and the acrid taste of the water.

He remembers the lights of the city

distant

and mocking.

He remembers

nothing else.

V

The boat on which he finds himself,

being fastidious,

is not one he would have chosen.

The destination,

Mexico,

some days away.

Robinson spends long hours

staring at the water,

the wake

seeming to have a particular fascination.

He proves oblivious to the weather.

The weather,

equally oblivious, is unchanging.

VI

It is night

and Robinson is alone on deck.

What little light there is is dim and shaded.

The sea is black,

glistening with an oily sheen.

By turns

it attracts and repels.

Somehow

he cannot recover

his previous determination.

Somehow

he does not think he wishes to.

ROBINSON IN MEXICO

I

Robinson had never believed in clichés:

A new life? A new identity?

What did he care?

But here

the anonymity he craved.

Robinson, today,

is no longer Robinson.

No questions.

No need of them. American. Alone.

That is all.

Few words

and a back street bar.

II

Seen in a drug store,

Robinson is observed eyeing the Luminol.

Seen in a small arms warehouse,

Robinson is known to have purchased a .32 Beretta.

He polishes it nightly.

He is noticed on occasion

walking to the end of the breakwater,

hesitating, walking back.

Whiskey his friend, indecision preys on him.

Time begins to crack.

Inside,

a suddenly garrulous Robinson

makes his mistake.

No-one is surprised at his disappearance.

It had been expected

daily.

III

Robinso...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• CONTENTS
• THE OTHER SIDE OF SLEEP
• COMPASS
• TROY: SEVEN VOICES
• GRAFFITI
• LÏR
• HAMNAVOE
• TIME TRAVEL
• ROBINSON
• VOICES AFTER A TSUNAMI
• REVENANT
• RHYTHMS
• BEWCASTLE POINT-TO-POINT
• THE BLACK LIGHT ENGINEER
• NAMING: AD 2006
• A VISITATION AT THE ABBEY OF BARKING
• GRASS WAS TALLER
• I HAVE NO FEET
• GRITHSPELL
• ORION
• ERIS SPEAKS
• IN RETAIL (XXIII)
• FAITH IN A TIME OF DOUBLE-DIP RECESSIONS
• ON THE HUNT WITH MR ACTAEON
• I WENT TO THE MARKET AND I BOUGHT…
• THE BROKEN THREAD
• Copyright
• Individual Copyright