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Charlie Baylis

Charlie Baylis: Exit Plans & Gifts

Updated: 26. velj 2022.


Source: Unsplash, downloaded https://unsplash.com/photos/n-MJGM3rzDg (7.2.2021.)


Charlie Baylis's poems are inward concentrated, dense and complex. It is as if the poet is speaking exclusively to himself and the subject from the past that is ever present in his thoughts and torments his mind, keeping him in a limbo of sorts. An unnamed place filled with unanswered questions and possibilities that will never come to be.


Editor-in-Chief, Ana Savković



exit plan


the unborn poem blurred by the narrator’s nerves

white leather satchel more tasteful than my own

an itch of friction filters into my day lemon leaves or green tea

mingle with boiling water & honey my heartbeat accelerates


a series of unwise investments in niche nordic banks

sold to me by inside knowledge from a “most reliable” source

a chain of black dominoes on the verge of collapse

the moment my money evaporates into thin air


& i have nothing to pay for these chocolate buttons

so rich as to leave me breathless an orgasm delayed till crescendo

pints of milk poured over clouds volcanoes erupting with pearls


where the intimate o’s and x’s of my text messages to my ex

are read to me by my next i open the white leather satchel

find an unblemished page trace my fingers over its blankness

words appear while i read the title is exit plan



bar mixx, tokyo


my toe taps under the table her toe i

look up from her magazine

the splendour of what is left on my wrist

polished marble adornments

her toe taps under the table my toe i


dine on the table x my slender wrist

wracked up to be forgotten

walking up the walls of hotel blues

& later when i hold her in my arms

i do not think of her, i think of u



gift


elizabeth taylor rides softly over a dew-dappled moon

on the ghost of karl marx in a poem by sam riviere

the trees are becoming weary of the presence of sam riviere

in the months since we parted we never really parted

the fear i feel when your eyes glow violet

tap tap tap on the velvet moss lining my throat

the first clear chord of the most delicate symphony

the man beautiful as light

impounds her round nouns.

i gift a poem i declare my love for you

without declaring my love for you



About the Author: Charlie Baylis is from Nottingham, England. He is the Editor of Anthropocene. His poetry has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and once for the Forward Prize. His most recent publication is Swimming (the Red Ceiling Press). He spends his spare time completely adrift of reality.


Charlie is the Poetry Editor of Review 31 and the Chief Editorial Advisor of Broken Sleep Books.



Translation from English to Croatian by Ana Savković:



izlazna strategija


nerođena pjesma zamagljena pripovjedačevim živcima

bijela kožna torba ukusnija od moje

svrbež trenja filtrira se u moj dan lišće limuna ili zeleni čaj

miješaju se s kipućom vodom i medom otkucaji mog srca se ubrzavaju


niz nerazumnih ulaganja u nordijske nišne banke

prodao mi ih je "najpouzdaniji izvor" s insajderskim znanjem

lanac crnih domina na rubu propasti

trenutak kad moj novac ispari u zrak


& nemam čime platiti ove čokoladne gumbe

toliko bogat da me ostavlja bez daha orgazam odgođen do krešenda

litre mlijeka prelivene preko oblaka vulkani izbacuju bisere


gdje mi intimne o-ove i x-ove iz mojih sms-ova bivšoj

čita moja sljedeća otvaram bijelu kožnu torbu

pronalazim neukaljanu stranicu pratim prste preko njezine praznine

riječi se pojavljuju dok čitam naslov je izlazna strategija



bar mixx, tokio


moj nožni prst tapka njezin nožni prst ispod stola i

podiže pogled s njezinog časopisa

raskoš onoga što mi je ostalo na zapešću

ukrasi od uglačanog mramora

njezin nožni prst tapka moj nožni prst ispod stola i


večeraj na stolu x moje vitko zapešće

uništeno da se zaboravi

hodam po zidovima hotela blues

& kasnije kad je držim u naručju

ne mislim na nju, mislim na tebe



dar


elizabeth taylor vozi se polako preko mjeseca zasutog rosom

o duhu karla marxa u pjesmi sama riviere

stabla postaju umorna od prisutnosti sama riviere

mjesecima otkako smo se rastali nikada se zapravo nismo rastali

strah koji osjećam kad ti oči zasjaju ljubičasto

tapkaj tapkaj tapkaj po baršunastoj mahovini koja mi oblaže grlo

prvi jasni akord najdelikatnije simfonije

čovjek lijep kao svjetlost

zapljenjuje njene okrugle imenice.


poklanjam ti pjesmu izjavljujem ti ljubav

a da ti nisam izjavio ljubav



O autoru: Charlie Baylis je iz Nottinghama u Engleskoj. Urednik je online časopisa Anthropocene. Njegova je poezija dva puta nominirana za Pushcart Prize i jednom za Forward Prize. Njegova najnovija publikacija je Swimming (the Red Ceiling Press). Svoje slobodno vrijeme provodi potpuno odvojen od stvarnosti.


Charlie je urednik poezije u časopisu Review 31 i glavni urednički savjetnik u Broken Sleep Books.


 

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