Cremation
by and published in Edition Two of Pomegranate
He burned up
A blackened jacket
Of denim dragonhide,
A sweat-starched scaly paving
Of fossilised fabric
And daubed engine grease.
Laughing
In my drunken kaleidoscope,
He held a cigarette
Magnifier
To his lips
And focused
Clattering colours,
The prism-flung bar,
Into a thumbnail of white fire,
A feral flash that bolted
Through creased motor-oil canals,
Skittered,
Synapsed up his sleeves
And burst on his back
Like flaring wings.
I see that angel image,
His phoenix impression
Scorched in naked sun:
Not the stamped-out
Ashen aftermath,
The cancerous crumple,
Trampled charcoal
Smoker’s lungs,
But spinning beer,
The ballet arc of arms
And pictures of him,
Living,
Shedding his skin.
Richard Osmond
Richard Osmond is 20 years old and studies English at Cambridge University. He was a winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award in 2005, and since then he has been invited to perform his poetry at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden, London, most notably at events New Blood and Broadcast. He has also been published in online ‘zine Don’t Panic, and read as part of a showcase at the “Our Words” literature event in London in 2006.