Featuring Poetry by Mark Anthony Pearce

 

THE FOUR RIDERS

Four riders 

Dressed in 

In black 

Cycle

furiously 

Through 

Castle Park

Attempting

To reduce me 

To a bloodied

Smudge

Upon the face 

Of the Earth

I shake 

My right fat fist 

A Bloated 

Anachronism

As the 

Guys and dolls 

Of careless night

By the bandstand 

In their 

Grotesque fineries

Laugh

And smoke 

Their Marijuana 

Bristol, May 2021

EIGHT YEARS IN THE BRITISH ARMY

‘Eight years 

In the British army’

And all it’s got him 

Are a few 

Copper-plated coins

From my wallet 

By the swanky 

New flats

Affordable homes

Along the 

Northern boundary 

Supposedly 

Reminiscent 

Of the old castle wall

That Olly’s army 

Destroyed 

Not fit for ‘heroes’

With rank black teeth

And Welsh accents 

Bristol, May 2022

FIRE ON CORONATION ROAD

‘Shit!’ 

He sticks 

A long 

Wooden branch 

Into the ground

By the 

Petrol station

Placing his

Black leather jacket 

On top of it

Wears a 

Baseball cap

Crazy look 

In his eyes

Apologises to me 

For his obscenities 

I notice

Several bottles 

Of Vodka  

Anchored by his 

Right foot 

‘Look at 

Those fire engines!

The hotel 

I checked in 

Is barbecued!’

He’d only gone out 

To get some poison 

Knew what porn 

He was going 

To watch tonight 

And his hopes 

And his dreams 

Quite literally 

Went up in flames 

Guess he’ll 

Be wanking

On the grass 

Tonight then 

Bristol, May 2022

Biography: 

Mark Anthony Pearce lives and works as a Receptionist in Bristol, South West England. He is an author of six books of Poetry, most recently ’She Smells Dead People’ (Hickathrift Press, May 2022). 

His poetry has been published in numerous titles including Obscure Quarterly, CAPGRAS and online, Inefável, Winamop, Horror Sleaze Trash, Duane’s PoeTree, Piker Press, Ten Million Flies & Open Arts Forum. 

He can be contacted on email: markanthonypearce@gmail.com