The Dingle
Stuart McKenzie

We’d crawl its industrial pipe
after loitering outside, flies
at the mouth of an open wound.
The buzz would be to run
the curve of its cylindrical body,
avoid the gush of water
that ran through it
but dare ourselves to get wet.
We snuck in as if we were child workers
to cool off from summer’s heatwave,
reaching for that bright ‘O’ at the end.
When we got there, we sang
Angel Face by the Glitter Band
like a football chant, and listened
for our echoes to bounce back
and hope they’d ricochet through town.

Stuart McKenzie is a freelance illustrator and lecturer living and working in London. His poems have appeared in various magazines including Envoi, South Bank Poetry, Boscombe Revolution and Urthona, and he was featured poet in Magma 63. He is author of Creative Fashion Illustration (Bloomsbury) and is vocalist/guitarist in the band Wild Daughter.