poem:
earliest memory,
1977

poem:
earliest memory,
1977

3 May 2025    
from kidstruck

benjamin harker 

 

I only have as negatives / yellow/navy baby reins

 


I do not remember
my mother’s chin pores as she
lifted me to feed

I do not remember
meaning him when I first said
dadadadadad

I only have as negatives
yellow/navy baby reins

as stories my first earache
shock of tomato and nappy rash


First breath
second touch of fur
third sun in the eye

fled me
even as
they etched me


Nothing held until

grill in floor
Harrow Way
connecting us
to next door
unglossed clay
toothy white
deep brown pile
edged with dust
papered wall

is my first
was my first

that is all


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

in april, i open my bill

 

poem: little knot, 1983

 

poem: brian, 1981

   

benjamin harker

Paedophiles do not pursue the lives of cuckoos purposefully. We begin loved and welcomed. We are babies, then children and we grow up alongside you.

 

benjamin harker

Three fingers are the promises, Akela said, taking a finger of his own and swirling it around the circle of my thumb and little finger

 

benjamin harker

Brian had something / I did not / a lump

 
 
 
in april, i open my bill
benjamin harker

Paedophiles do not pursue the lives of cuckoos purposefully. We begin loved and welcomed. We are babies, then children and we grow up alongside you.

 
 
 
poem: little knot, 1983
benjamin harker

Three fingers are the promises, Akela said, taking a finger of his own and swirling it around the circle of my thumb and little finger

 
 
 
poem: brian, 1981
benjamin harker

Brian had something / I did not / a lump