Two Poems by Graham Fulton

The Boy who Knew He Had It All

blazer     school tie     grand mal
thrashing about
                 on the landing
at the top of the stairs
                       we filed up
after the morning break

             a shooting star
of running track     penalty spot
   pocket full of O-Levels
afraid of nothing     prepared
for tomorrow
              dancing
towards him     the momentum
of certainties          thrashing
about
    the top of the stairs
     face all red      someplace
else

                a teacher of science
      rules of the universe    kneeling
            beside him     holding him
doing his best to make it okay
         telling us all to keep on going
    it's okay     to keep
going
as we filed invisibly past     keeping
our distance      seeing
his arms     legs     thrashing
about

Brian Wilson in Swansea Bus Station

Immaculately groomed
          and cunningly disguised
as a Welsh bus driver
                                      Brian Wilson
                                           of the Beach Boys
          stands beneath the canopy
of Swansea bus station
          in search of
                                     the normal life
                             he can never have
with a badge on his jacket
          and a song in his heart
as he waits for the X15
                                    to pull in
                                        while the rain
          buckets down on the roof
and takes his place at the wheel
          and pulls out
                                     as gracefully as
                        a Malibu surfer
riding the waves
          and splashes up the hill
to God Only Knows where
                                        while whistling
                                           Wouldn't it be Nice
          from the classic album
Pet Sounds
           with a rabbit-caught-
                                          in-the-headlights
                              look on his face
as the passengers sing the chorus
          menacingly in tune
if this was
                      a parallel universe
                                      which it
is

About the author:
My name is Graham Fulton and I live in Paisley in Scotland. I've had poetry published in many magazines, online journals, newspapers and anthologies, in both the UK and USA, including Word Riot, Envoi, Chapman, The North, The Potomac, Illya's Honey, The Silt Reader, California Quarterly, Concho River Review, Iron, Dream State: the New Scottish Poets, Staple, Stride, Orbis, Poetry Cemetery, Poetry Book Society Anthology, Scotland on Sunday, The Herald, Nerve Cowboy, Brittle Star, Snakeskin.

My previously published collections include
Humouring the Iron Bar Man (Polygon)
This (Rebel Inc)
Knights of the Lower Floors (Polygon)
Ritual Soup and other liquids (Marsicat Press).

My two latest publications are Inner Circle and Found Objects (a CD of photographs) from Controlled Explosion Press. I have 2 chapbook collections, Upside Down Heart and Black Motel, awaiting publication from Glasgow publisher Dreadful Night Press in 2009 and 2010.