Onion Music by Mark Fiddes - The London Magazine

I grow lighter for you

with each striptease

from skin to skin leaving

a glimmering bulb

a milk light by your bed

for you to undress by

or find your way to the loo.

I remind you of your births

with this universal belly

its faint meridians stretched

drum tight and kicking

without howls or rips

offering only the stillness

learned from warm earth.

Put me on your dresser

I will be your hope grenade

pinless among magic sticks

and brittle bottled miracles

reminding you to forget

the drip of years and live

each day like it was your first.

Mark Fiddes was a Runner-up of this year’s Bridport Prize and recently won 1st prize in Ireland’s International Dromineer Festival. His first pamphlet “The Chelsea Flower Show Massacre” was published by Templar this March and shortlisted in the UK Saboteur Awards. It was also poetry book choice of the month at Lovereading.co.uk. A full collection will be published by Templar. He lives in Wandsworth and works in Soho.