New Poems by Scott Cumming

Ewok in the Window

Walking home

the way I would

years before

searching for your face

in every window

can’t remember

which house was yours

I’m not being morose

just walking through time

don’t need 88 miles an hour

to look back

to when these streets

appeared to be ours

backs straighter

vodka chasers

laughing louder

at things only we’d find funny

until the present jars me

an Ewok in the window

and all the usual regrets

you’re reduced to a few lines

as I wander in and out of time.

I always thought you played together again

It’s the ones who live
that get to tell the tales
Truth rarely comes into it

I always thought you played again
even after the last one
turns out it was sadly, but appropriately named

Hard to tear my eyes away
from all the photos
Each one of them mesmerising in their own way

It’s tough to judge
‘cause you did right by yourself
while ripping away the number one thing they had

Does the weight of that keep you up at night?
Every great band is an extraordinary story
but there’s not one quite like The Band.


Shameless

Once met Andrew W.K.
who looked bewildered
at my Zippy from Rainbow tee
He signed my ticket
 “SHAMELESS”

And here I am shamelessly
namedropping a dude due to marry a movie star
seeing him now on IG
he's like Thor and Loki rolled into one
and you know they party hard
down in ol’ Asgard

Not sure this is the one
to grant me iconic cult status
but I’ll keep trying
brick by brick to the face.

Lovesick Dope

She left me behind
accident or on purpose
I don’t know
The dope took her
but it brings her back too
don't have the strength
or the weakness
to myself back to you

Cord Change Gaze

Spongebob played in the background
when you told me you didn’t love me
Well, that’s not what you said
just wasn’t my name that burst from your lips
Not me that made you quiver and crumple
I’m merely your Patrick Star
Not the face you see at the chord change
The progression that sends your gaze skyward
filled with a snifter of lost hope
It leaves me staring into the middle distance
wondering when next I’ll hear it
and have the strength not to mope.


Bio: Scott Cumming unsuspectingly went to see Garden State wearing his Shins tee. He has been published at The Daily Drunk, Punk Noir Magazine, Versification, Mystery Tribune and Shotgun Honey. His poem, “Blood on Snow”, was voted the best of Outcast Press Poetry Things We Carry issue and nominated for a Pushcart. His collection, A Chapbook About Nothing, was released in December as part of Close to the Bone's First Cut series.
Twitter: @tummidge Website: https://scottcummingwriter.wordpress.com/