Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
Mounted on a wall, firm, red, reliable
Ignored unless called upon
for emergencies
Always at attention, upright
Indistinguishable from a Buck-
ingham palace guard except for the 18-inch
hat made of bearskin from culled
Canadian black bears to control their numbers–
Yet everything about you is still
worth conserving, in your mind
You always came through for me
Smashed my smoky mirrors
(“Pull pin and aim at the base”,
the instructions say)
Raised your dark nozzle
and sprayed your white, foamy propellant
Side to side until I was all doused
Out
I remain lit in the afterglow
of the memory of you
every time I pass one by
Once fire, now latent ember
Smouldering, smothering ex-
tinguisher
My one bright blot
First published in Blot Magazine, Issue 3, Scotland
