Aphelion Issue 301, Volume 28
December 2024 / January 2025
 
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A Poem for a Recession

by Jon Stocks


I am invisible. I walk the streets
Gazing in shop windows. With soulless mirth
Noting the trends. The drift to Burlesque.
Thinking to myself. Nothing works anymore.
Eight calls to the doctor. Always engaged.
And the dram shops. Locked and barred.

I am invisible. Wind’s from the North.
I lean to the right. The spite of recession,
It’s just like the eighties. I close my eyes.
It’s all blather. The blind leading the blind.
You don’t see me. I’ve seen it all before.
And television. Tits and arse repeats.

I am invisible. You hollow-eyed,
Dumbed-down. You deserve each other.
Tedium. Life’s a bitch and then you die.
Accountants, moneylenders rule the world.
Newspapers full of lies. The end of time.
Bitter? You bet I am. Dead and bitter.
Invisible. The God you could have known.


© 2009 Jon Stocks

Jon Stocks has had work published in magazines worldwide and have been nominated for the Pushcart prize, an American poetry award. He has also received a citation of special merit from Bewildering stories magazine. Recent work has appeared, or is scheduled to appear, in magazines including Candelabrum, The Coffee House magazine, Coffee House, Pennine Platform, Littoral, Other Poetry, Manifold, Poetry Monthly, Harlequin, Tadeeb International (translated into Urdu), Taj Mahal review, Avacado, Involution and Interlude.

He is currently working on a first novel and also writes short stories, winning the Carillon magazine short story competition.

A small number of poems are currently being transformed into short films as part of a film poetry project. His poem, "Alicia's Diary" was recently performed in Sheffield Cathedral as part of a Multi-media poetry presentation.

Find more by Jon Stocks in the Author Index.

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