Poetry

Poem Of The Week | Do You Require An Advice Slip? by Niall Bourke

By Niall Bourke

Do You Require An Advice Slip?

By Niall Bourke

Make time each week to let the word Schnubart
molest your tongue; about-to- unblock is better
than the unblocking; spend more time watching
ants; learn to skim stones; seek out nature
documentaries that do not anthropomorphise
their protagonists; despite some initial promise
there is, in fact, limited comic potential for substituting
the words Liberian and librarian; do the washing up
so badly that you will never be asked to do it again;
wear a cloak sometime; seek opportunities to use
the word roustabout; force a cold caller to hang up
on you; the look on your brother’s face when his child
unwraps the trumpet you bought outweighs the cost;
the dimensions of toilet cubicles makes learning
the maracas a viable option while waiting in airports;
behold: the court sections of provincial newspapers;
the humming of a fridge can soften the sound of time
dripping down through the rafters, because that is
the why; lovingly lovingly; when out baiting badgers
ensure you put twigs down your britches for they won’t release –
until they hear a snap.

Submissions are open for all HeadStuff poetry categories, including Poem of The Week (Every Friday), Unbound (longer sequence of poems from a single poet), and New Voices (submissions from poets under the age of 30.) We accept both written, audio and video recorded poems as long as the quality of the audio and video is of a high standard.

Please see our Submissions page for more information.

Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash

Niall Bourke 1 posts 0 comments

Niall is originally from Kilkenny, in Ireland, but now lives in London. In 2015 he completed an MA (with distinction) in creative writing at Goldsmiths University of London. He writes both poetry and prose and has been published in a number of journals and magazines in the UK and Ireland, including Poetry Ireland's Introductions Tasters Pamphlet, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Magma Poetry and Eyewear Publishing’s The Best New British And Irish Poetry Anthology 2016 and 2017. He has been and shortlisted for the Over The Edge New Writer Of The Year Award (2015, 2016 and 2017), The Bare Fiction Poetry Prize, The Costa Short Story Award, The International Cambridge Short Story Prize and The Melita Hume Poetry Prize for the best first collection by a poet under 35. In 2017 he was one of twelve poets selected for Poetry Ireland's Introductions Series, which culminated in a reading at Poetry Ireland as part of the International Dublin Literary Festival. His debut poetry collection, a perverse novella in verse called 'Did You Put The Weasels Out?' was published by Eyewear press in early 2018. You can find out more at niallboukewriter.com or follow at @supersplurk