CHRISTIAN WARD - POEMS

Christian Ward is a UK-based writer who can be recently found in Red Ogre Review, Discretionary Love and Stone Poetry Journal. Future poems will be appearing in Tipton Poetry Journal, BlueHouse Journal and elsewhere.

Wordsworth Tries Instagram ​

​Tundra

Streets turned to tundra
after a lunchtime argument:
A scattering of Snow Petrels
for pigeons. Red foxes for cats. 

With not enough warmth between us 
to make it thaw to grassland, 
I suggested waiting until it passed. 

You choose to disappear into 
the incoming freeze like a Snow 
Leopard, passing your coat of cold 
to me when you came back. 

I haven't been able to take it off since. ​

​Marbles

One, a miniature sea slug
encased in glass. Another, 
a soft toy's beady eye. The last 
displays the northern lights. 

They retain their quality 
even when violently flicked
across the playground tarmac. 

How disappointed their creators 
must be with us. ​

​Red Monarchs

In the ancient forests 
of central Mexico, 
they shine brighter
than all the torches
lit by the local tribes. 

Pity the dead 
and nefarious
arguing like a pair 
of jaguars over a kill. ​

A Minor Acquaintance ​

My mother's minor Italian 
acquaintance, loud and voluminous 
like a Rubenesque cloud, 
is pestering her to knit something 
for her great-granddaughter 

due to arrive next month. 
Browsing the children's clothing 
in the supermarket, I tell her it's not
necessary since she's just a minor 
acquaintance and can't drown anyone 

out, no matter the request. My mother 
shrinks like an overwashed garment
while remembering the distance 
between herself and her daughters. 

She longs to connect again, no matter 
how minor the connection. ​