6 Poems by Poppy Cockburn

Short poem

Little can go wrong

in something so short.

I would like

to love you, but fear

I don’t have

a pink bow emoji

big enough.

Portent

I know you’re going 

to break the internet 

of my heart.

That afterwards, 

I won’t stop searching 

your name.

A game of chess

I like to gently

lie each piece down

on the board

and let them sleep.

I BREAK UP WITH THE KINDEST MAN I’VE EVER DATED

I’m not who I say I am

You shouldn’t tell anyone you’re going to do something 

until you’ve actually done it

You shouldn’t re-post an article you’ve haven’t read 

all the way through to the end

The end is where the bigoted slurs come into play

I never got into videogames

though it’s a romantic notion – a woman with a console 

to console her 

One of the boys, but heart socks and knickers

Maybe that’s just the porno speaking…

How much can anyone absorb before it takes over part of their personality?

I wanted to ask a man to fuck me like he loved me

but instead, invited him to fuck me to death

He didn’t manage that, but he put my back out

which was mildly impressive

I guess it was a lot to ask…

A few days later, he said he loved me, in a way

My back still hurts, in a way

Why are break-up roses always yellow?

Spring is coming

with its bouncing lambs

who’ve never heard of Slaughterhouse-Five

Make way for an army of chocolate bunnies in waiting

gold foil glinting in dark stockrooms

A charm bracelet in an art exhibition

I wanted to take someone special, so I took myself

SAINT SEBASTIAN

In this portrayal, he’s      yanked out his arrows.

Wounds ooze         down his pearly chest

at a sensual pace.         Paint drips  

canvas.

Eyes slatted, he whispers me closer, 

invites me to pause the flow,

gasps 

          when I softly probe, a smile 

tremoring his Cupid bow lips. 

A shooting stab of pain. Divinity. 

Gore pools at our toes. 

A holey man provides colour, simultaneously fades.

I hear sirens,

follow his eyes’ horizons, turn to see 

a troupe of women advancing. Quivers full.

Poppy Cockburn is a writer based in Margate, UK. She is the author of four poetry chapbooks. Her most recent, Liquid Crystal Lovesick Demon, was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2023. She’s also been published by Anthropocene, Perverse, SPAM, Rough Trade Books, Dream Boy Book Club and elsewhere. Her book, Naked Oyster, is forthcoming with If a Leaf Falls press.