Three Poems

by Jer Hayes

The Gargoyle and the Pigeon

Look at those fuckers down there,

they'd kick you out of the way

and not even look at you,

the fuckers. Well, that's what

they do from what I can tell,

they move, erratic jerks,

don't get in their way, do

they feed you? Those fuckers?

Some of them do I guess,

but it's a fight, bread wars,

Haven't you seen them feed us?

I don't look down there anymore,

they're boring. The fuckers.

Achilles fighting Hector

Oh sing through me muse, of house-clearances,

failed DIY,  table legs, shattered chairs, fill

the layers of Ilium for Schliemann to find.

The warnings  against fly tipping have had no effect.

Where we played, fleet-footed children,

there was always rubbish, discarded pallets fashioned

into swords of bronze, breaching the mighty

cardboard city walls, on that waste ground,

any passer-by would see, Achilles fighting Hector

in the rubble, in the dust, and become the Homer of our song.

Tickets Please

Times have been tough,

we Immortals have to make do,

Zeus is driving the subway,

the sparks make him smile,

his lightning laugh tremors trains,

while I the boatman, now stand

like cerberus, tickets please,

oh for the days when heroes

would pass my way, banter,

now I have to watch my back,

"human resources", new Gods,

no coins in mouths,  the bright

lights of dead screens,

the undead pass,

tickets please.

BIO: Jer Hayes is from Dublin, Ireland. His work has appeared in AEOS Magazine, Cosmic Daffodil Journal, The Martello Journal, Flare Magazine, Porch Lit Mag, Eunoia Review, Prosetrics, Libre and Everscribe. Find him on: Insta:@sherlockhayes ; X: @hayes_jer