Issue 34: Iain Britton

from HAPTIK POEMS

Sleeping In

picking up parcels   of summer heat  the sun

white-washes couples hugging their lawns      an   intimacy

is stepping    over    one another        mouths      gaping

at the      heads      of     lovers    impaled   on    flashes of sunlight      

a house   pays    the price     for sleeping in

White Fungus   

a trick       no doubt         you step

from the window unscathed        pedestrians

pass through rainclouds of glass  

the         bookshop    retreats  to      its   trenches        

of white fungus     my fingers talk      by       showing

images       you stuff them away safely

you pin pieces  of    the        universe      to your body 

 you’re rapt       you wear them  like      needle marks

in the     flesh   

The Jesus Touch

the        day’s    not            without incident      the        sky’s 

luminosity surges      & suddenly        it’s raining

the wind        shakes        the wiring             the power poles    

bird colonies   swarm    into   clouds                          

adoration      is    restricted to two people           on a beach

one      lying inside  the  other such 

long-term       contractions      echo     in silence

Some Invisible Eros

disgruntled i begin with the collective 

community of some invisible Eros

a bacchanalian hunter  

begins with the curled-up   blunt beak of a flower  

sheathed in red light it bends against the sky        

shedding body parts

my finger smudges the petalled flap of a kiss

Iain Britton’s poetry has been nominated in the UK for a Forward Prize for Best Single Poem and Best First Collection. Like This Press, Oystercatcher Press, Interactive Press & Lapwing Publications have published pamphlets and small collections. Poems have been published in Harvard Review, POETRY, The New York Times, Poet Lore, Stand, Wild Court, Agenda, New Statesman, Prototype, Poetry Wales, Blackbox Manifold, Poetry Birmingham, Amsterdam Review and many others. The Intaglio Poems was published by Hesterglock Press in 2017. Project Constellation was published by Sampson Low 2022. A new collection is due out with Rufus Books Publishing in 2026.

Copyright © 2025 by Iain Britton, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of Copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.