Steven Waling

PAUL NASH: HARBOUR & ROOM

The missing back wall
sea rising over the floor
house slipping under

this evocative harbour

waves washing salt air & fish stink
singing shanties collapsing coasts in

fishing ports of the English south

our living rooms suddenly liminal
that once were sure underfoot

to bring back word from the men at the front

ring storm bell clang clang
herring boats head for shelter
our home floats to sea

we are making a new world

further and further into flood
our drowning bones never dreamed of this

and may it burn their lousy souls

diving beneath waves like selkies
half man half sub washed up on the shore

dead sea of bombers

clang rings the clang bell
for the next overwhelming
& here come the wars

over the Dymchurch groynes

dog fights are scribbling
white words over the white cliffs

sinking into futures
we haven’t written ourselves

UNIVERSAL CREDIT

“We have feelings inside us (where are they located exactly?’ (Ben Lerner, The Hatred of Poetry)

Are you looking for work?

coach drives over wheel
in France miracle it stays
upright doesn’t crash

In that small room at the back of the house a feeling of loss dresses for the date
Downstairs a secret joy blutacks this moment to the wall before putting on its coat

*
Remember to provide evidence of jobs applied for

you are on the road
to Taizē God on your side
keep telling yourself

It pays to take short term or part time work

It may be cold outside but an obscure careless love is already on the path Is always waiting eagerly
on the path for you to get ready

*
You must declare
a job picking stones
no bigger than your thumb
from the playing field

remember this day
you were saved for a purpose
but you don’t know what

Opening up work

Y’know that feeling you can’t quite put your finger on half dread half anticipation half something else
is picking a tie from the rack

*
If you cannot give good reason
for refusing a job
you may be sanctioned

imagine yourself
bumping over and over
that same incident

Do you need help with your CV?

Hope in the coming spring is putting its face on in the bathroom brushing its teeth doing whatever it
does in there

*

Please turn up for all interviews on time

this is the closest
you ever came to dying
thank God you’re still here

Are you looking for work?

Steven Waling's collections include Hello GCHQ (Dept.), Travelator (Salt) and Captured Yes (KFS). Recent poems have been published in Litter & X-Peri, and are forthcoming in the Cambridge Literary Review and Zarf magazines.