difficult as in a black box in a dark bar Malcolm
battles admin in the morning unhappy rain sent
by data gods growing up bad business their sick words
smudge Malcolm’s forearm misty in a solo stagger him
till he fluffs his notes and stumbles in his lines
all he wishes a sturdy bench at night in gardens
to sit and be like other people lively and with ending
but something has happened somewhere a hardy friend
may have swung a punch
Malcolm springs back it must be stopped
made error questing now dark eyes
well darker in a violent light of thinking
by Nathan Hamilton
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‘Malcolm Administered’ is copyright © Nathan Hamilton, 2011, and taken from the series ‘A Gang of Malcolms’, published by Egg Box.
Nathan Hamilton has had poetry and criticism published in The Guardian, The Spectator, The Rialto, and The Manhattan Review. He co-edits the influential anthology series for emerging poetry, Stop Sharpening Your Knives, and will be compiling a new anthology of young poets for Bloodaxe. You can follow Nathan Hamilton at his blog.
Egg Box is a small independent poetry publisher based in Norwich. You can find out more about the publisher here.
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