INVOLVED IN SWITZERLAND

He said he was a poet
but his modest recognition
would dissolve in a bottomless sea,

that he often wrote in the dead of night
then washed up on distant shores
where his shoes were seen walking alone.

That he could catch the words
that welled in his mouth
like vagabonds shuffling darkly
towards unbearable daylight.

He said he failed to see the point
of verse which led him through old libraries
to a place that smelt good but offered
nothing more than the next door,

that he once hitched a ride
from a man involved in Switzerland,
down tree-lined roads edged with pink sunset

but they laughed and replied that words
are cheap and money speaks louder.

John Short was born in Liverpool, UK and after studying comparative religion at Leeds University spent some years in southern Europe doing a variety of jobs. His poems and stories have appeared in many magazines in the UK, Spain, France and the USA such as Prole, Barcelona Ink, French Literary Review, The Metaworker, Rats Ass Review and forthcoming in Yellow Mama and The Horror Zine. He reads at venues around Liverpool and beyond.