‘Threads’ by Mark Ward

Dad had me butcher the ends of my jeans:
the hems so frayed they could divine water,

receding through neighbour’s lips: a hiss, a tut,
a stare at its seams. My father imagines

the dirt of the day embedded inside
each thread; tangled slinkies, ripped tentacles

pulling on the jeans, the knees, their centre
of gravity, collapsing me in public.

Not me – I’m his son. His trousers starching
at the Medusa hairdo crowning my shoes,

each thread a sentient snake, complicit,
more eyes from which to prise forgiveness. 

From issue #10: autumn/winter 2020

About the Author
Mark Ward is the author of the chapbooks Circumference (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and Carcass (Seven Kitchens Press, 2020) and a full-length collection, Nightlight (Salmon Poetry, forthcoming 2022). He is the founding editor of Impossible Archetype, an international journal of LGBTQ+ poetry, now in its fourth year.