BROWSE Columns
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the oldest charm is springing pinks like poppers
its bedfellows tangling their way through alliums
— over-protective cane-staked companions ––
warding off those tiny sap-sucking insects
who vary greatly in their drunken colours.
the impossibly handsome lilac petals are a rose
so good i could eat it. this is not a metaphor
although its two brothers are over-diseased ––
killing two roses with no hope like cutting
a gateway flower with electric secateurs.
dead leaves what we wish we didn’t need
but a butterfly on borage is good –– not hiding
behind onions –– and its flowers cleanse blood.
Simon Maddrell is a poet, editor and educator whose work appears in AMBIT, Gutter, Magma, MODRON, Poetry Wales, SAND Journal, Southword, Stand, The Gay & Lesbian Review, The Moth, The Rialto, Under the Radar. Simon’s pamphlets include Throatbone, UnCollected Press; Queerfella, which jointly-won The Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition; Isle of Sin, Polari Press; The Whole Island, Valley Press; a finger in derek jarman's mouth, Polari Press; Patient L1, Polari Press; Jo & Ni Go Cruising, Septum Press. Out-Spoken Press will publish Simon's debut collection in Feb 2026.
