Andrew Jamison was born in Co. Down in 1986 and studied English at Queen Mary, University of London. His poetry has been published in Poetry Review, Poetry Ireland Review 100, The Rialto, The Yellow Nib, The Ulster Tatler, The Dark Horse, The Red Wheelbarrow, The SHOp and Cyphers. He was recently selected as a UK Young Artist by the Arts Council England and will represent the UK at the International Young Artists Biennale in Morocco in 2011.
In the arpeggioed, folky early stuff
like Toxic Girl, the bass drum’s dumph-dumph-dumph
which signals the lead solo, stands out a mile,
the timing of it almost as comical
as the dink-dink-dink of the opening harmonic —
somewhere between idyllic and ironic —
and the bassline saunters, bum-bums along,
like all good basslines, only noticed when it’s gone.
for Sheila
Tonight the snow is falling and
all over Clermont Drive
the parties have come to an end,
the designated must drive.
Tonight the snow is falling,
above there’s a star or two
and under the streetlight, stalling,
look, there’s me, there’s you.
© 2011
Salt Publishing Limited