HCE received a lot of high-quality submissions for The Brutal Issue – sadly, too many to fit inside the magazine! So we offered some of our shortlisted contributors the chance to be published on our website.
Keep an eye on our social media for more great writing like this, in the run up to the release of The Brutal Issue…
Meet the Future Manager
Angela Arnold
So. James Matthew. –
Quiet, is he?
Keeps his faces hidden, makes elbows
at the world instead.
Calmly won’t have his hand held
either: prestidigitates to have them both
deeply occupied in three pockets, no end
to his unobvious squirming.
Independent, is he?
Still: speaks nicely, on cue…
With the glazed, far-off expression of one
sinking his battleships with some precision.
Bright, I’ll bet. Bats away
all scrutiny with leg-swing ease
and only stands his harmless ground
more firmly: chewing an unshared smile.
Sure to go far.
ANGELA’S work has been published in various poetry magazines like Magma, The Interpreter’s House and Pushing Out the Boat, and several anthologies. She is also an artist (painter), writer of non-fiction and a creative gardener who currently lives on the Welsh border.
