Peter Devonald

Clown Prince

Clown breathes

fragile lies

dying here.

Clown sulks

ocean falls

trees sigh.

Clown lacks

a softening

of hearts.

Clown cheats

clown cries

crows call.

Clown leaves

smashed glass

soft regret.

Clown doesn’t

live here

anymore.

No Exit

In the end

we wonder

what the hell

it all meant

love lies

bleeding

all over the

Bakhtiar Rug

cost more

than the car

ruined

obscurely

blood never

cleans well

drenched

in stench

salt only

rubs into

wounds

unclean

halved collections

books and dreams

divided

split apart

neither want

the rug

bleeding

reeking

lying

to ourselves

say we'll be

(sorrow tomorrow)

Divorce

snow

sleets

softly

a kiss

before

dying

glistens

ghastly

ghosts

we die

before

we live

trauma

twists

stomachs

vulnerable

vultures

inconvenient

bleeding

innocence

ranges

goodbye

flurries

ghastly

softly

sleets

snow

Manchester UK based poet/ screenwriter Peter Devonald is widely published in magazines/anthologies including London Grip, Door Is A Jar, Bluebird Word, Metachrosis, Vipers Tongue, Visual Verse, Voidspace and the6ress. He won the Waltham Forest Poetry Prize 2022, Heart Of Heatons Poetry Award 2023 & 2021 and joint winner FofHCS Poetry Award 2023. Forward Prize nomination 2023, two Best Of The Net nominations and shortlisted Saveas 2023 & Allingham 2023. Commended by judges in the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine 2024. He is poet in residence at Haus-a-rest. Won 50+ film awards, former senior judge/ mentor Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys) and Children’s Bafta nominated.