Poetry By Zoë Davis
bellum
Listen to Zoë reading her poem:
I won a competition in the back of a newspaper: An audience with one of the Four Horsemen I chose War, met him at the bandstand in the park He’d brought bread to feed the ducks We had an hour, max As his van was double parked As I approached, manicured nails tore lumps off a bloomer Catapulted seeds to the needy Kind, but I’m sure I’d read somewhere It can give them angel wings (it’s the carbs) A woman, playing chess with a lion, stopped mid game To take a photo of us. For prosperity, she insisted More like celebrity War did not need to speak To answer my questions, yet I had to explain my choice Why him? Why was he so special that I had forgone meeting Death Who was, by far, the more popular brother He guessed at rebellion. Apathy, I shrugged The sun was at its zenith. A mayfly landed on my arm Begged for a minute of our time We took another picture, the three of us, all smiles, thumbs up I wrote on the back there will always be another tomorrow… And left it hanging.
Zoë Davis is an emerging writer from Sheffield, England. A quality engineer in advanced manufacturing by day, she spends her evenings and weekends writing poetry and prose, and especially enjoys exploring the interaction between the fantastical and the mundane, with a deeply personal edge to her work. You can find her words in publications such as: Ink Sweat & Tears, Strix, Roi Fainéant, Dust and Red Ogre Review. You can also follow her on X @MeanerHarker where she's always happy to have a virtual coffee and a chat.