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Likestarlings is a place for talking in poems. We pair poets with poets and they write a sequence of six new works by responding in turn to one another. Our palaver blog goes beyond poetry to discuss collaboration in theory and in practice. Please take a look, and feel free to add comments, opinions and suggestions here. Read poems here
 

Telescopes


The ring slips a finger you once thought was Up Yours,
slips like a head-dress over a thimble bride’s neck,
shrieks of slo-mo NOs at the misquoted chat-up lines –
a kneading of tongues to eat their own bones.

An Apocalypse scurries under the dresser
– each scratch woofers a Kraken’s itch –
a tail is not a talon : a mouse’s nest,
wreath-petit, made from Christmas hats,
tinsel, shredded brochures & seashells.

Stripped off our T-shirts logo’d POLYMORPHOUS,
uncorked a deep red in white boiler suits. Pressed
the suit to my chest, the collars pegged with sparrows.

The telescope showered us a YES – warts & aortas
(You said) was the art of words. If we accepted
each other's our names would be printed.

I took your finger : not a hand : it was a catch :
we could have seen the stars if everyone flicked off a switch.
Our Open Skies policy was writ. We shook them off
at the cashpoint. Wild cats glared from the demolition site.