The Poem of the Month for September 2022, selected by 2022 Anthology Editors, Veronica and David Cookson, is Dreams of the 60s (or whenever) by Margaret Fensom. The commended poems for September are musings from the death bed: exile by Phil Saunders and Road Moment by Valerie Volk.
Dreams of the 60s (or whenever)
Margaret Fensom
Hovering somewhere between
the imperfect perfect housewife
exploited by commercial TV –
The germs under the rim
of your toilet bowl
will come out and lay you low –
and a manqué flower child,
I contemplate the carbon
sequestered on the bottom of my saucepans –
should I still be burning gas?
And my arachnid lodgers –
not too large,
no fly spray here –
and I think,
Let it be, let it be.
I have a poem to write,
a garden to tend
and the sun has come out.
musings from the death bed: exile
Phil Saunders
I knew there was a queue
had not expected
to be in it
thoughts of escaping avoiding defeated
chaos in remnants of passage
the moment of carelessness
the platform of despair
the unwanted train
avoided for so long
arriving for me
Road Moment
Valerie Volk
Ahead, a spooling road unwinds.
Car lurches as we swerve.
Avoid the dark mass,
sudden hazard in our sights.
More road kill.
Crows wheel to roadside
shrieking raucously, complain
as we disturb their feast.
A kestrel hovers –
not his banquet.
But high above, god-like,
an eagle hangs,
poised above the scene.
Waits his moment.
Considers whether this is
worth his while to swoop.
Just another roo.
Not our affair.