stdClass Object
(
    [ID] => 21479
    [post_author] => 31
    [post_date] => 2021-03-25 20:06:20
    [post_date_gmt] => 2021-03-25 20:06:20
    [post_content] => 

Inside this disused tool-shed in Hammer Wood
slatted walls morse daylight on an earth floor.

Here two local boys find a knife, its blade
freckled in rust. The older boy picks it up,

with its egg whiff of wet metal, and points
to his friend to back against the wall for a trick.

Then the younger boy’s t-shirt is hustled
over his head and rolled into a blindfold.

In its blackness, he imagines the moment held
like a knife above his friend’s head. His friend

who whispers. Don’t. Move. And then
there’s a kiss. Lips quickly snipping against his.

Silence. He’s aware of his chest, the negative
of his t-shirt. He pulls his blindfold. Looks

the older boy full in his up-close face. And sees
that he’s bleeding, everywhere, under his skin.
    [post_title] => Trick
    [post_excerpt] => 
    [post_status] => publish
    [comment_status] => closed
    [ping_status] => closed
    [post_password] => 
    [post_name] => trick
    [to_ping] => 
    [pinged] => 
    [post_modified] => 2021-03-26 17:47:32
    [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-03-26 17:47:32
    [post_content_filtered] => 
    [post_parent] => 0
    [guid] => https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/?post_type=poems&p=21479
    [menu_order] => 0
    [post_type] => poems
    [post_mime_type] => 
    [comment_count] => 0
    [filter] => raw
    [meta_data] => stdClass Object
        (
            [wpcf-published-in] => 
            [wpcf-date-published] => 2020
            [wpcf-summary-description] => 'Trick' was commended in the 2020 National Poetry Competition. 



From the judges: "Perhaps more than any other poem in the competition, this poem does great work in the white space beneath it, calling out to us as readers long after we have read it. This is achieved by the absolute care of every formal and linguistic choice in the poem. We loved the way we are ushered into the intimate space of the tool-shed, and the way in which details such as the blindfold generate narrative tension. The poem's final sentence is astonishing: violent, beautiful, and managing to pin down, visually and unforgettably, a moment of self-revelation and emotional vulnerability.”
            [wpcf-rights-information] => 
            [wpcf-poem-award] => Commended in the 2020 National Poetry Competition
            [wpcf_pr_belongs] => 
        )

    [poet_data] => stdClass Object
        (
            [ID] => 8899
            [forename] => 
            [surname] => 
            [title] => Mark Pajak
            [slug] => mark-pajak
            [content] => Mark Pajak has written for the BBC, The Guardian, the London Review of Books, Poetry London, The North, The Rialto and Magma. He has received a Northern Writers’ Award, an Eric Gregory Award, an UNESCO international writing residency and has been awarded first place in the Bridport Poetry Prize. His pamphlet, Spitting Distance (Smith|Doorstop) was selected by Carol AnnDuffy as a Laureate’s Choice. He has previously been commended in the National Poetry Competition in 2014 and 2019. His first collection is forthcoming in 2022.
        )

)

stdClass Object
(
    [ID] => 8899
    [forename] => 
    [surname] => 
    [title] => Mark Pajak
    [slug] => mark-pajak
    [content] => Mark Pajak has written for the BBC, The Guardian, the London Review of Books, Poetry London, The North, The Rialto and Magma. He has received a Northern Writers’ Award, an Eric Gregory Award, an UNESCO international writing residency and has been awarded first place in the Bridport Poetry Prize. His pamphlet, Spitting Distance (Smith|Doorstop) was selected by Carol AnnDuffy as a Laureate’s Choice. He has previously been commended in the National Poetry Competition in 2014 and 2019. His first collection is forthcoming in 2022.
)