Front Page Poetry: January 2023

Death to December: A Limerick

An impassioned young Swede known as Greta

Read a tweet (you know, an online letter…)

From a goader called Tate,

Peddling misogyny and hate –

But a pizza box paused his vendetta.

- Amanda Ellison -

Out of Oxygen: A Villanelle

Backlogs! Crisis! The outlets shout.

Discharges delayed. Personnel underpaid.

Oxygen is running out.

Industrial action and consequent fallout

Swelling already burgeoning stress.

Backlogs! Crisis! The outlets shout.

The stats say twindemic, beyond all doubt.

Double flu, double covid - and

Oxygen is running out.

While management dares to sit pretty and flout

The fruits of good fortune, the front line despairs.

Backlogs! Crisis! The outlets shout.

For the public, a technical knockout.

Kitchener-like texts: “We need your help!”

Oxygen is running out.

All we can do is watch with horror,

As the best in the world fights to have a tomorrow.

Backlogs! Crisis! The outlets shout.

Oxygen is running out.

- Amanda Ellison -

Blood Brothers

Two princely brothers – ‘an heir and a spare’ –

Hit grubby headlines, again and again.

This time, a leaked memoir will carry the blame.

Dirty linen - cast out to air.

The scene is Nott Cott. It’s 2019.

The claim: one brother, royally violent.

The response, as per protocol: best remain silent.

The truth? Well, as always: fair game to glean.

Memoir? Fairy tale? Exposé? Fable?

One brother, Cain; the other, Abel.

- Amanda Ellison -

Fully Booked: Two Senryu

Bookshops were dying.

Their opponent: Amazon.

Now: resurrected.

2022.

Cultural capital gains.

A ten-year zenith.

- Amanda Ellison -