Acrostic poems are a handy
Constraint to
Rely
On when creativity is too
Stubborn
To show itself.
I
Can’t think of a clever way to end this.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Erling Haaland is on the sofa thinking
about overhead kicks and penalty shoot outs
waiting for his fridge-stored Chocolate Buttons
to reach room temperature. His teeth
don’t like the cold and his feet are twitching.
Patience is a word he can’t spell
but his bones have learned
to be it. He sips his cup of milk and touches
a fingertip on the chocolate. Warm. Perfect.
Erling Haaland eats a Chocolate Button
and laughs at a defender falling over
on the television.

Carl Burkitt 2024

A silver giraffe is in the pub.
There’s a navy blue gift bag
on the table in front of him
with a bottle of something
poking out the top.
Presents two, three, and four are
the plumber, the marketeer, and the train driver
slowly sipping pints of ale on chairs
listening to him remembering their mum.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Write
on the good days, too,
they say.
So I will,
I think.

Carl Burkitt 2024

The lad from Coronation Street is
getting work done on his house
and talking to builders on his driveway.
Real life neighbours and poets and
children walking to school are
slowing down to get a peek into his world.
The sun is putting a shift in this morning.
Buttercups magicked their way out of nothing,
a sparrow has invented wings to travel,
the tree at the end of the road
is exploring the flexibility of the colour green.
A builder with a tattooed tells the lad
from Coronation Street to make him a tea
before tearing open a bag of cement.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Erling Haaland is sat in traffic
on the motorway from Manchester
to London. It’s FA Cup Final day
and he’s desperate to go to a birthday party
instead of giving defenders hell.
His thoughts are sausage rolls,
cucumber sticks and cake icing,
not gambling at the near post
or songs about his dad’s knee.
A coach drive past his Ford Fiesta
and he imagines it filled with his teammates
laughing about pass the parcel
and Phil Foden pinning the tail
smack damn on the donkey’s arse.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Erling Haaland is feeding a goat
on his first school trip. He wasn’t sure
if he wanted to at first but he’s been learning
about being brave in class.
The goat is night sky black.
It’s floppy in the heat of summer
and the noise of confused uniforms
but it’s been learning about
just getting on with things.
Erling Haaland thinks he likes
the goat’s sloppy tongue
lifting brown pellets off his hand
and the goat headbutts a wall.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Charisma wears a room
like a multi-coloured waistcoat.
He’s walking through the wedding
holding a pork sausage in his hand.
It’s cooked. It’s cold.
He’s a vegetarian
but he won’t let the get in the way
of making an impression.

Carl Burkitt 2024

“I can’t quite put my finger on
why he’s annoying, to be honest,”
the man yells down a Bluetooth headset,
his voice bouncing off
the swimming pool changing room tiles,
his cackle smashing into locker doors,
his verruca plaster peeling off his big toe,
his penis knocking against his kneecaps.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Erling Haaland completes jigsaw puzzles
when he needs a rest from being awake.
He asks for help
with 50-piece puzzles
but can down 36ers with his eyes closed.
My muscles soften watching him
flip all the pieces to be face up and
find the corners before lining up the edge bits
while I wait for his pesto pasta to cool down.

Carl Burkitt 2024