Base
by and published in Edition Five of Pomegranate
Aren’t our stock phrases funny how they tip off the tongue
having lain there (like a lion the thing is rough as a cob)
they nuzzle in our throats so our first re-pliant breath births
old utterances to snugly fit new situations or old ones
made distinctly new by the trick of light modifications:
a different girl a strange locale a taste you can’t quite tell
though you know some of it is cumin and some a herb
that could only be one of two both verisimilar
either of which would add a twist to our stock stock
of water leeks onions and bay leaves halved carrots
sharp showers and trains Estates and white-washed suburbia
held hands and TV shows photographs and miscellanea
souped-up with the sound of hail stone on granite
sweat-fused bodies lemon juice cayenne pepper.
Ahren Warner
Ahren Warner has published poems in Magma, The Wolf, Rising and Orbis. He recently received an Arts Council Grant to work on the manuscript for his forthcoming pamphlet, which will be published by Donut Press. He is currently studying for an MA in Critical Methodologies at KCL.