Contemporary Literary Review India | Print ISSN 2250-3366 | Online ISSN 2394-6075 | Impact Factor 8.1458 | Vol. 10, No. 2: CLRI May 2023

Christopher Barnes

Niggardly Triumphs Flare

(after Riot Days by Maria Alyokchina, Pussy Riot)

Cock-and-bull reports

Wrest for servility.

Gripes are enthusiastically inked.

I rebuff quarantining myself.

Trotters back up, flanking corridors...

Our show will go on.

 

World-Shaking Decisions

(after Riot Days by Maria Alyokchina, Pussy Riot)

Unbending remarks.

Make headway into claptrap.

Rat on yourself.

Affirm any wrongdoing.

Seldom is plenty.

Who do you sick-fancy you are?

Even Elvis is silent now.

Queasy

(after Riot Days by Maria Alyokchina, Pussy Riot)

Governess elbows her bitterness.

Domination warrants no slip ups.

Office asserts futility.

Remorseless, bereft of credibility -

Where's the authentic?

Paranoia inks out rules.

Tightrope walker’s spotlit.

Frisk

(after Riot Days by Maria Alyokchina, Pussy Riot)

Standoffish.

Logbook in view.

Dub-tags and movables freshened.

Beddy-byes are misdemeanours.

Unbound topcoat emulates rotten luck.

This void's a bench mark.

Theatricals needed an audience.

 

"You're Political"

(after Riot Days by Maria Alyokchina, Pussy Riot)

Not shuffling, we glower.

Pallet-bed cricks

Echoing ruptured ligaments.

Hogging think-backs -

All who sprawled on it.

 

Door-pummelling's good-for-nothing.

We are certainly off-Broadway.

 

Christopher Barnes won a Northern Arts writers award in 1998. In July 2001, he read at Waterstones bookshop to promote the anthology 'Titles Are Bitches'. Christmas 2001, he debuted at Newcastle's famous Morden Tower doing a reading of my poems. Each year, he reads for Proudwords lesbian and gay writing festival and partook in the workshops. In 2005, he got published hi collection LOVEBITES by Chanticleer Press, Edinburgh. Christopher has written poetry reviews for Poetry Scotland and Jacket Magazine and in August 2007, he made a film called 'A Blank Screen, 60 seconds, 1 shot' for Queerbeats Festival at The Star & Shadow Cinema Newcastle, reviewing a poem.
Get Your Book Reviewed: If you have got any book published and are looking for a book review, contact us. We provide book review writing service for a fee. We (1) write book review (2) publish review in CLRI (3) conduct an interview with the author (4) publish interview in CLRI. For details visit: https://authornbook.com/submit Email: authornbooks@gmail.com