Jonathan Dalton.co.uk
Below is a selection of my short stories and poetry. I hesitated before uploading the latter, because I read much less poetry than prose and so feel less confident about my poetry’s quality. But anyway; do let me know what you think!
Short Stories
A Happy Ending (PDF) - finished late August 2008
Poetry
Untitled
29/09/2009
I can smell ice in this Autumn air; a semicolon creeps into the place where
A full stop might have sat.
Some machine is whining, and the cloud-draped sky is burning.
It’s time, I think, it’s time, but then what’s next? It’s time for what?
It’s time, it’s time, then the thought falls away.
So this is it, then, drips and bits of words, a structure, fear, fear and desire. I’m just starting again, that’s the thing, that's the hope. I’m just starting again with the day, and maybe - maybe - I’ll write more soon.
Tuesday 8 September 2009, Lucca, Italy, mid-late afternoon
People chattering around me, cute girls;
the boys leave, the trees hustle.
Into the light a drop of honey’s been swirled.
It’s Autumn and it’s nice. It’s, it’s;
If only -
A man baby-steps past me, warbling behind his lips. Thirty seconds later he wanders back, the sound still cycling through him. This is alright.
Untitled
27/06/2008
Dear God, You and I
Have much to discuss.
Topics range from your existence to mine.
But don’t worry: I’ve been on hold for decades,
And if we ever finally meet,
dead
I’m sure I’ll have lost the will to bother you. Amen.
Sky
23/06/2009
This huge sky, stunning and endless and endless...
absorbs me effortlessly.
I stare and don’t feel scared
of this sky, that word flying,
dipping down and then sweeping up
into an ending, where it really just becomes breathless and invisible.
Who knows where it goes then -
perhaps everywhere,
or anywhere we want.
Untitled
28/05/2009
Insomnia clutches my eyes, but I see beyond its grip: this is a bad day. Outside, the dusk chorus, Spring melting into Summer; cool air, light pastel sky. A Great Tit.
Sometimes I want to fall, naked, arms outstretched. Sometimes I want to lie, splayed, staring at the sky. I turn on the TV and dissolve.