We Were the Kind
to tell it true we’d say
we don’t know what it is
we’re nowhere near the end of.
Sure, we’ve skipped a bit of rope in the day
had the steak served up rare
and bloody on occasion
and once been fed at the oar
and can blow out all the candles
on the first try.
We know how to fall
for a smile and build a person out of it
and when pissed off just pack
up the bongos and go home
and whenever smitten know to inch
the drapes close to each other
as the coming night is likely to blab about anything.
Then this guy steps off the train.
He’s looking around for something to polaroid.
So we walk up to him
and just start pointing all over the place.
Micheal Martin is a writer, editor and film-maker living in North Carolina. His first collection of poetry, Extended Remark was published by Portals Press in 2015. For many years his poetry, feature-journalism and fiction have appeared in U.S. and European publications. Poems from his new poetry manuscript first appeared in literary journals such as American Journal of Poetry, Poetry Ireland, New Orleans Review, RHINO & Salamander, among many others. In 2021 he collaborated with the Irish film production company, Morgan Creative to produce and direct two poetry-films of his work which continue to be officially selected and awarded in international film festival competitions such as the most recent, Buenos Aires International Film Festival. For a decade Martin lived in Amsterdam where he was a feature writer with Amsterdam Weekly; in 2010 he edited the Harper’s anthology, Rules of the Game: The Best Sports Writing from Harper’s Magazine.