THREE Poems
‘Heaven’s Expense’
‘Lark’
& ‘Nuptials’
Maria SLEDMERE
‘Heaven’s Expense’
Suppose in writing viola and sixty-nined
from aerosol realm in topshelf feeling
grand as a filigree of ghosts must peel
each other from joy without crime
I had a section, rhythmless saccharine
rising g-stringed at play with casino
girlfriend. She says she feels
always at the end of her endocrine
system, licking the sore part whole
into apples. From modern Latin
and literally violet, I go into capital lark
with bells for thumbs and elegance
darkens to be flipped over on satin
eternity; press select or else stark
expense of the heavens are perilous.
‘Lark’
Maria, sorry I was lake
the password wasn’t working
prior to Nasa moon announcement
we do not gather in California
is becoming a song the same as
singing the song with other
singers of songs
I want to know
what makes you ripple so
when I can’t get hold of the dark
it calls up the part where Angel shrieks
hiding out inside my head it’s me again
just dipping my brain in stardust
or learning Spanish
‘Nuptials’
A wedding ring
exists without symbol.
Just kiss it, just kiss it. I drop
the platinum into the well
too much luck
to go round these days. I like
abundance in poetry.
It always makes a lovely splash.
It seems we could be rich forever.
When the planet stopped tanning
in the bad salon, the moon watched
on in horror. We were all mostly
impressing ourselves. Your hands
look as naked as I’m feeling right now,
but they are soft as the moon chalk
with which I am writing.
Someone could go there I guess,
they could really propose it.
Maria SLEDMERE is a writer and artist finishing a DFA in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, exploring intersections of ecopoetics, lyric architectures and the post-internet. She is editor-in-chief at SPAM Press and a member of A+E Collective. Her most recent publications include CHLOROPHYLLIA (OrangeApple Press) and NEUTRAL MILKY HALO (Guillemot Press); with Rhian WILLIAMS, she co-edited THE WEIRD FOLDS: EVERYDAY POEMS FROM THE ANTHROPOCENE (Dostoyevsky Wannabe). Her poem ‘Ariosos for Lavish Matter’ was highly commended in the 2020 Forward Prize, and her work was included in MAKAR / UNMAKAR (Tapsalteerie, 2019), an anthology of contemporary poets in Scotland. Current projects include a seasonal pamphlet series, SONNETS FOR HOOCH, in collaboration with Mau BAIOCCO and Kyle LOVELL, and THE DREAM TURBINE, with The NEWBRIDGE Project.