Poems

A selection of poems are available below. Liam’s debut full-length collection, ‘Human Townsperson’ is now available. His pamphlets ‘Monomaniac‘ and ‘Working Animals‘ are available from Broken Sleep Books.

The Agency, published in Prolit Magazine

His Echocardiogram Looks Good Now, published in bath magg

Monolingual

I tick the box marked Other and write
in the space There’s a me-shaped statue growing
inside my body. The admin guy behind the desk
asks if allowances will need to be made

by the staff at the uni. I say, No. Without
thinking first: my brain beams out its default
signal and my tongue is quick to catch
hold of the frequency, to give nasal shape
to the negative. I’ll often give

my answer before hearing the question.
Once, when a doctor saw fit to test my reflexes,
he tapped his rubber hammer to my knee
and I kicked myself. — from Monomaniac

That’s All

At the end of every month, assuming no HR drama, I pull away
the perforated edges of my pay slip. This signifies my value. It’s money to pay
a man to rent a space to sleep, where
I can cool off and heat up ready meals and frozen pizza.
It’s a place to order takeaway to. It’s a living room to hold a second hand
leather sofa – someplace to sit and eat chow mein from a clear plastic tray. Today,
the landlord sent someone round
to set out plastic traps to trick any hungry, hapless rats
– this tactical placing of lipstick-red
boxes, baited toxic. I spent a while thinking
about rat poison’s notes of flavour.
Does it fizz like diet pop against the gullet
as it’s sinking? This TV politician
is chewing through a kangaroo testicle
for my entertainment. My chow mein is greasy and bland. — From Working Animals