Art class

“Boys, Mrs Potter and I wear nothing
while at home,” he told us.
 
“Now keep your brushstrokes
smooth, and full …”
 
I painted a virginal sprite,
duck egg blue for her mantle.
 
“A Madonna! Such a delight!”
he said, entranced.
 
And on the tips of his toes
he began to dance.
 

Peter Ualrig Kennedy

poem published in The Interpreter’s House, Issue 62, 2016, ISSN 1361-5610

 
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Rapscallion

I was a kid on vacation
a lifetime ago
alone in Rome
 
I lived on fruit
water and fresh air
and after three days
 
in the searing sun
eating grapes
by the sparkling fountains
 
I had seen Rome
I had a train to catch
tickets to buy
 
I took my traveller’s cheques
to a bank
they asked to see my passport
 
“Non ho il mio passaporto
l’ho lasciato
a San Remo”
 
The bank teller
looked at me
then at his colleague
 
he took my traveller’s cheques
he gave me the money
he said
 
“Is no problem signore,
your face
is your passport”
 

Peter Ualrig Kennedy

poem published in South, 57, April 2018, ISSN 0959-1133

 
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Tom’s cummerbund

     i.m. Tom Petty
 
a friend came over from Sarasota
where he had been to an estate sale
estate of Tom Petty he told us
so I said Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
but he did not know who the Heartbreakers were
he just liked to go to estate sales
and this one had sounded interesting
and he had a present for each of us
 
for me he had gift wrapped
a purple cummerbund
I was surprised to find it was a bit too capacious
as I had always thought of Tom Petty as a slim dude
so I checked for Tom Petty cummerbunds on the internet
but I could find no reference to Tom Petty cummerbunds
and I looked up images of Tom Petty
who was indeed a slim and slender fellow
 
I think I may be the only guy in the UK today
who is wearing a taken-in cummerbund
that was once the cummerbund of the late great Tom Petty
and in that respect I will stand my ground
except that I have to admit
that I may have been taken in myself
by a cummerbund that was not in fact
a Tom Petty cummerbund after all.
 

Peter Ualrig Kennedy

poem published in South, 58, October 2018, ISSN 0959-1133

 
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Mai Myfanwy

Mai Myfanwy Ardyddfyl Rees
my mother’s cousin’s
only daughter
 
I remember you so well
you were a dab hand
at the musical bells
 
your wood framed carillon
of harmonically tuned bells
was brought out that afternoon
 
in the small Welsh village
for you to play for us
at your mum’s cottage
 
what thrilled us even more
than your tune on the bells
was that you then
 
tucked your skirt
into your knickers
and stood on your head
 

Peter Ualrig Kennedy

poem Highly Commended in the VOLE Books Summer Competition, 2023, Dempsey and Windle,
and published in competition anthology Washed with Noon, ISBN 978-1-913329-90-7

 
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