Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
I wish had a fragment of Gaiman’s imagination
An elfin smidgen of Tolkien’s
A mystery crumb of Christie’s
A scary bit of Stephen King’s
A sake shot of Murakami’s
A lyrical wee sip of Atwood’s
A swig of surrealism of Marquez’s
A tiny grain of truth of Orwell’s
A miniscule lick, spittle and sliver of Thomas Harris’
The littlest chocolate chip of Roald Dahl’s
The smallest particle of every novelist I’ve ever loved
To re-constitute and take hold of my addled brain
And flow through my fingers onto this screen
Give me a writing superpower never seen
But then again, that would be obscene
I need to be as original as can be, you see
Picasso, if he said it at all, was only joking:
“Good artists copy, great artists steal”
No A.I. genie around to grant you that deal
Head down, chop wood, fetch water
There are no shortcuts, keep writing still,
it’s the only thing, in the end,
that truly matters
First published in Live Encounters Poetry and Writing, 14th anniversary anthology, edited by Mark Ulyseas, Bali, Indonesia.
