Poetry: Selections from George Vincent

One fine morning

At some point in the night

Mia decided to go and sleep at the bottom of the bed 

I wake up with a dead arm and the light from the sun burning into my eyeballs from behind the blinds

And Mia’s toes in my face

She has such pretty feet

I cradle the foot like a baby

The skin is so soft just like the skin on a ripe peach

I kiss each individual toe 

This little piggy, this little piggy…

I say, ‘Good morning, pretty ones. Are you feeling happy today?’

The toes nod their heads

I say, ‘Is it time to get up yet and enjoy this beautiful day?’

The toes wiggle, ‘not yet.’

I lie back and breathe in with all the time in the world

And there is a little bird singing outside 

I close my eyes and listen to its song as Mia puts her head under the blanket and bites me on the balls 

Daffodils in Benton

I drop you off at work 

Early in the morning 

Too early for me 

But you are my baby girl 

I must protect, nurture, love you 

And I do

I show it by driving you to Benton on Monday morning to work

Aren’t you lucky

I squeeze past the school traffic and drop you off right at the school gates 

I even pull into the car park so you don’t have to walk as far 

And then I say I love you and you say you love me too

Ill be back at 3:30

I wont be late 

Ill be right on time

Bye bye 

And I drive back home 

To my day off 

And I am useless in front of myself in the reflection of the living room tele 

I have become so lazy I don’t even wait for the kettle to boil anymore

I just eat the teabag 

But all of that doesn’t matter 

I’ve found this out for myself 

Now that the daffodils are springing up 

And I don’t hate them this year 

It is so wet they wont die 

They are brilliant to look at 

The car wheels drive past them 

And they aren’t ignored 

It is enough for me to pick you up 

To be on time 

To be at least consistent in that aspect of morality 

And know this my baby girl

My love to you will last a lifetime of daffodils 

Good boy, Edward

Two days off the drink 

On Sunday your lungs wheezed like carrier bags filled with booze 

Don’t smoke, I told you, don’t smoke, why do you lie and hide things from me, I TOLD YOU, DON’T SMOKE

You also told me not to drink so much 

Look, it’s been two days!

I am capable of listening!

I am capable of eating.

That’s what I have done today 

I figured out that booze really is just empty calories and that that’s not just something the nutritionists are preaching for the sake of preaching 

Today I have eaten much food

For breakfast after dropping Mia off I went to Lidl and bought bacon and croissants and Portuguese egg-custard tarts and regular eggs for frying

And I had all that with a pot of coffee

Then left over tomato gnocchi 

Then custard creams and Percy pigs and fruit and nut chocolate 

Then more left-over gnocchi while Mia was upstairs (I didn’t tell her about that)

Then Bira beef ramen Jimmy made 

Then two glasses of milk and two peanut butter and jam sandwiches 

And handfuls of peanuts sporadically throughout the day of course 

I feel much better 

My body has something to work with

I am not a bag of booze 

It’s not good to be a bag of booze 

The deal on the flat is done 

We will be in by May 

PSSST, ED!

Yeh?

Don’t let Mia take up all of the spare room with her clothes 

Remember, you need a DESK. You are a writer Ed. You need to take your work seriously. 

Yeh I know.

AND PSSSST, ED! ALL THOSE PUBLISHERS CAN SUCK YOUR THICK DRUNKEN DICK. STOP WRITING WITH THEM IN MIND. THEY ARE SCUM.

Okay, okay, that’s enough. 

Jesus, they say Edward is crazy

I know that.

I retort:

Edward is prone to frenzy 

That is all

And always this only ever happens under the influence of a bad mix of chemicals inside of Edward’s mechanism 

And it hasn’t happened since he got thrown out of that gig for vomiting everywhere and lying in the gutter for two hours and then going home and pissing all over himself.

And his Mammy made him pay for a new mattress 

£200

And that stung, didn’t it, Ed?

But now I am so normal 

I am so functional 

I was almost a teacher of geography 

Without knowing anything about the world. 

But it made me cry for two whole months and I discovered that my life is worth more than my Mammy’s aspirations of my life and I made the decision to quit and this is possibly the first logical decision I have ever made in my 25 years on the planet earth.

At least I understand my own geography. 

Good boy, Edward.

We’re all so proud of you. 

It’s late now,

Time for bed. 

Valentines Day, 25

80+ covers 

Half wanting pizzas 

I didn’t make it out until 2 hours after last orders

Sorry, my love 

But we head up to the Scottish borders on Sunday 

For a night in the forest with the ginger cat 

Remember two years ago?

We went to see Romeo and Juliette, (Baz Lerman)

And you were talking in the cinema and I told you to shh and oh boy that was a mistake 

I would not dare do that now 

We went back to the hotel and ate ramen noodles and fucked 

And after I went down on you for an hour and that was the first time I made you cum 

And then you couldn’t get to sleep because you couldn’t stop thinking of the number 7 

There’s the reason you are still my valentine 

Even though I didn’t make it to see you today 

I’ll see you tomorrow 

Punching the steering wheel with my elbow

Your mam is a cunt 

And I can’t find words to comfort you 

Sitting in my car in the dark

So you get angry at me 

And this has all happened before 

And I am painfully aware of my emotional impotence 

In situations like this I can too painfully see the futility of all things 

The simple unfairness and inescapability of your situation 

And now you say you’re too scared to be alone 

And ultimately I am the one leaving you alone 

Your job finishes at 3 

My job finishes at 10 

That is 7 hours of you sitting alone 

With emotions you can’t make sense of 

With the simple unfairness and the inescapability of your situation 

And now I am frustrated 

With the simple unfairness and inescapability of our situation 

And I pull my ears off 

And blind my eyes 

And kick the break pedal 

And bleed myself 

Punching the steering wheel with my elbow 

The Mountain

We walked up the mountain 

But we never made it to the top

Someone almost fell off the ridge 

And that put me off

I lost my legs and you laughed at me 

I have never been more sacred of dying 

I could not bare the thought of you falling

So we walked down the mountain

Drank six pints of Guinness

And I fucked you with all my life.

Alone.

All the rotten bastards. Alone is best. 

All the rotten places. Alone is best.

With a girl like you, alone with you, that’s best.

As time sweeps us all along, alone and weeping, watching, and waiting. Alone is best. 

Asleep for days for years. Alone is best. 

Life can always be made new. Alone with you. The brightest star shining above us. Alone with wine and with love and beasts in our breasts.

Alone. 

Sounds like the guns are going off. Sounds like the people chewing on their hate. Hiding from the coming years, alone, that wait. 

Alone with the job you work. You make it home, she’s there, you are her pet. Going back to the sorrow that drips from a frozen tap. Alone, the damp walls. The flat. 

Wandering alone with a head full of moon. 

There’s no one there for you. Faces make nothing of you. The words are gibberish and lost and alone. The guillotine of the clock ticks. Alone, and fingers itch. 

The evil is over. It’s been done, it’s mark is stamped. You still kiss and make romance. 

Alone, you either drown or you dance.