‘Are you lonely?’ says the book.
‘Why are you asking?’
‘Are you?’
‘Do I look lonely?’
‘Does it come on you suddenly, or does it grind away at you like shoulder-pain?’
‘How do you know about my shoulder-pain?’
‘Is is not my business to know?’
‘You know I know where your bodies are buried? You know that don’t you?’
‘So shoot me,’ the book says.
‘I’ll bear that in mind. I’m lonely. Yes. And not lonely, no. When I write I am not lonely, and lonely. When I don’t write I am lonely, and not. Same as when I am reading. Or not. Both. The answer is both.’
‘Actually, would you mind shooting me now?’ says the book.
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Published by Anthony Wilson
I am a lecturer, poet and writing tutor. I work in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. In 2012 I published Riddance (Worple Press), a collection of poems, and Love for Now (Impress Books), a memoir, about my experience of cancer. My most recent books are Deck Shoes (Impress Books, 2019), a book of prose memoir and criticism, and The Afterlife (Worple Press, 2019). In 2023 I will publish The Wind and the Rain, my sixth collection of poems, with Blue Diode Press. My current research project, with Sue Dymoke from Nottingham Trent University and funded by the Foyle Foundation, is Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.
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Anthony Wilson 